Reagents and methods for screening MPS I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII

ABSTRACT

Reagents, methods, and kits for assaying enzymes associated with lysosomal storage diseases MPS-I, MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB, MPS-IVA, MPS-VI, and MPS VII.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 14/916,526,filed Mar. 3, 2016, which is the national stage of InternationalApplication No. PCT/US2014/054398, filed Sep. 5, 2014, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/874,293, filed Sep. 5,2013; U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/874,331, filed Sep. 5, 2013;U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/960,102, filed Sep. 9, 2013; U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/960,113, filed Sep. 9, 2013; U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/949,970, filed Mar. 7, 2014; U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/968,021, filed Mar. 20, 2014; and U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/012,020, filed Jun. 13, 2014; eachexpressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT LICENSE RIGHTS

This invention was made with Government support under Grant No. DK067859awarded by National Institutes of Health. The Government has certainrights in the invention.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to reagents, methods, and kits forscreening MPS I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Treatments for a subset of lysosomal storage disorders (LSDs) havebecome available, and in many cases, early initiation of therapy leadsto a clinical improvement. These encouraging results have spawnedwidespread interest in newborn screening of LSDs.

Newborn screening programs have been established to quantify the levelof metabolites associated with these treatable diseases. New York Statenow provides Krabbe disease screening and recent legislation for LSDexpanded newborn screening has passed in several other states, andnewborn screening for Pompe and Fabry diseases is carried out in Taiwan.

The MPS (MPS I to VII) are a group of metabolic diseases/syndromescaused by a deficiency of one of the lysosomal enzymes degrading theglycosaminoglycans (including heparan, dermatan, keratan, or chondroitinsulfate). The pertinent enzymes include five sulfatases, fourexoglycosidases, and one non-hydrolytic acetyl-N-transferase. Thesesyndromes result in non-degraded or partially-degradedglycosaminoglycans amassing in the lysosome resulting in irreversiblemulti-systemic organ damage.

Although treatments have recently become available for some of the MPSsyndromes, optimal benefits from these treatments would requirecommencement of treatment prior to the onset of the irreversiblesymptoms. Early detection of MPS syndromes maximizes the potentialbenefit of treatment, and thus there is the need to develop tests thatare appropriate for early diagnosis. Likewise, there is a need fordeveloping a fast, inexpensive, and reliable diagnostic procedure thatuses dried blood spots (DBS) as a sample source, such as those submittedto newborn screening laboratories.

Accordingly, a need exists for methods and reagents for newbornscreening of the activity of lysosomal enzymes, particularly methods andreagents that allow for improved screening of MPS I, II, IIIA, IIIB,IVA, VI, and VII. The present invention fulfills this need and providesfurther related advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides reagents for screening MPS I, II, IIIA,IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII, methods for screening for MPS I, II, IIIA, IIIB,IVA, VI, and VII, and kits that include the reagents.

In one aspect, the invention provides methods for assaying one or moreenzymes associated with a lysosomal storage disease.

In a first embodiment, the method includes:

(a) contacting a sample with a first solution to provide a solutioncomprising one or more lysosomal enzymes;

(b) contacting the one or more lysosomal enzymes in solution with anenzyme substrate for each lysosomal enzyme to be analyzed and incubatingthe substrates with the enzymes for a time sufficient to provide asolution comprising an enzyme product for each lysosomal enzyme presentin the sample,

wherein the enzyme substrate for each lysosomal enzyme is a compoundhaving a carbohydrate moiety and an aglycone moiety and having theformula:

wherein S is the carbohydrate moiety that when covalently coupled to theaglycone moiety provides a substrate for an enzyme selected from thegroup consisting of:

(i) alpha-L-iduronidase;

(ii) iduronate 2-sulfatase;

(iii) heparan N-sulfatase;

(iv) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase;

(v) N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase;

(vi) N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase; and

(vii) beta-glucuronidase;

L₂ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, and S,and/or one or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkylgroup or halogen;

L₃ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, or S, and/orone or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl groupor halogen;

L₄ is optional and when present is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atomsin which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatomselected from N, O, or S), and/or one or more of carbon atoms may besubstituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen;

R₁ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group;

R₂ at each occurrence is independently selected from a C₁-C₁₀ alkylgroup, a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group, halogen, nitro, —C(═O)NHR, or —C(═O)OR,where R is C₁-C₈ alkyl group;

R₃ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted C₆-C₁₀ arylgroup; and

n is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4; and

(c) determining the quantities of one or more of the enzyme products.

In certain embodiments, the method further includes contacting theenzyme products with a glycohydrolase to provide second enzyme products.In certain embodiments, the method further includes adding an inhibitorto block endogenous glycohydrolase enzymatic activity that acts on asubstrate for N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase orN-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase.

In a second embodiment, the method includes:

(a) contacting a sample with a first solution to provide a solutioncomprising one or more lysosomal enzymes;

(b) contacting the one or more lysosomal enzymes in solution with anenzyme substrate for each lysosomal enzyme to be analyzed and incubatingthe substrates with the enzymes for a time sufficient to provide asolution comprising a first enzyme product for each lysosomal enzymepresent in the sample;

(c) subjecting the first enzyme products to a glycohydrolase to providea second enzyme product for each first enzyme product susceptible tofurther enzymatic action by the glycohydrolase; and

(d) determining the quantities of one or more of the first enzymeproducts and/or one or more of the second enzyme products.

In the above method, certain first enzyme products are not susceptibleto further enzymatic action by the glycohydrolase. First enzyme productsthat are not susceptible to further enzymatic action by theglycohydrolase are provided by the action of an enzyme selected from:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase;

(b) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase; and

(c) beta-glucuronidase.

First enzyme products susceptible to further enzymatic action by theglycohydrolase are provided by the action of an enzyme selected from

(a) iduronate 2-sulfatase;

(b) heparan N-sulfatase;

(c) N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase; and

(d) N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase.

In certain embodiments, the method further includes adding an inhibitorto block endogenous glycohydrolase enzymatic activity that acts on asubstrate for N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase orN-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase, where the inhibitor does notsignificantly inhibit the activity of the glycohydrolase of step (c).

In the above methods, the one or more lysosomal enzymes comprises anenzyme selected from:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase;

(b) iduronate 2-sulfatase;

(c) heparan N-sulfatase;

(d) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase;

(e) N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase;

(f) N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase; and

(g) beta-glucuronidase.

In certain embodiments of the above methods, an internal standard foreach lysosomal enzyme to be analyzed is added before, after, orsimultaneously with contacting the lysosomal enzymes with thesubstrates.

In certain embodiments of the above methods, the enzyme reaction isquenched prior to determining the quantities of one or more of theenzyme products.

In embodiments of the above methods, the sample is a blood or tissuesample. In certain embodiments, the sample is a dried blood spot.

Representative glycohydrolases include human hexosaminidase A, bacterialN-acetylhexosaminidases, bacterial β-N-acetylgalactosaminidase,alpha-L-iduronidase, β-galactosidase (aspergillus), and α-glucosidase(yeast).

Representative inhibitors include(Z)—O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranosylidene)-aminoN-phenylcarbamate, 1-deoxynojirmycin, castanospermine, swainsonine,calystegine B₂, isofagamine, Tamiflu, gluconohydroximolactone,glucuronic acid and its lactones and lactams, Relenza, miglitol,phenethyl substituted gluco- and galacto-imidazoles, N-hydroxyethyldehydronojirimycin, GalNAc thiazoline, and GlcNAc thiazoline.

In certain embodiments of the above methods, determining the quantitiesof the enzyme products (e.g., first and/or second enzyme products)includes mass spectrometric analysis. In certain embodiments,determining the quantities of the enzyme products includes determiningthe ratio of each product to its internal standard by mass spectrometricanalysis. In certain embodiments, determining the quantities of theenzyme products includes tandem mass spectrometric analysis in which theparent ions of the products and their internal standards are generated,isolated, and subjected to collision-induced dissociation to provideproduct fragment ions and internal standard fragment ions. In certainembodiments, determining the quantities of the enzyme products includescomparing the peak intensities of the product fragment ions and internalstandard fragment ions to calculate the amount of the products. Incertain embodiments, determining the quantities of the enzyme productsincludes conducting the products to a mass spectrometer by liquidchromatography or by flow injection.

In certain embodiments of the above methods, determining the quantitiesof the enzyme products includes fluorescence analysis.

In certain embodiments of the above methods, the method further includesusing the quantities of the enzyme products to determine whether thesample is from a candidate for treatment for a condition associated withone or more lysosomal enzyme deficiencies.

In the second embodiment of the method noted above, in certainembodiments, the substrate has a carbohydrate moiety and an aglyconemoiety and has the formula:

wherein S is the carbohydrate moiety that when covalently coupled to theaglycone moiety provides a substrate for an enzyme selected from thegroup consisting of:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase;

(b) iduronate 2-sulfatase;

(c) heparan N-sulfatase;

(d) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase;

(e) N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase;

(f) N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase; and

(g) beta-glucuronidase;

L₂ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, and S,and/or one or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkylgroup or halogen;

L₃ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, or S, and/orone or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl groupor halogen;

L₄ is optional and when present is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atomsin which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatomselected from N, O, or S), and/or one or more of carbon atoms may besubstituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen;

R₁ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group;

R₂ at each occurrence is independently selected from a C₁-C₁₀ alkylgroup, a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group, halogen, nitro, —C(═O)NHR, or —C(═O)OR,where R is C₁-C₈ alkyl group;

R₃ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted C₆-C₁₀ arylgroup; and

n is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Representative substrates useful in the methods of the invention includethe substrates of the invention described herein and noted below.

Representative internal standards useful in the methods of the inventioninclude the internal standards of the invention described herein.

In another aspect of the invention, reagents (substrates and internalstandards) for assaying one or more enzymes associated with a lysosomalstorage disease are provided.

Representative substrates include compounds having a carbohydrate moietyand an aglycone moiety and having the formula:

wherein

S is the carbohydrate moiety that when covalently coupled to theaglycone moiety provides a substrate for an enzyme selected from thegroup consisting of:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase;

(b) iduronate 2-sulfatase;

(c) heparan N-sulfatase;

(d) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase;

(e) N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfate-sulfatase;

(f) N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate-sulfatase; and

(g) beta-glucuronidase;

L₂ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, and S,and/or one or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkylgroup or halogen;

L₃ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbonatoms may be replaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, or S, and/orone or more of carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl groupor halogen;

L₄ is optional and when present is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atomsin which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatomselected from N, O, or S), and/or one or more of carbon atoms may besubstituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen;

R₁ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group;

R₂ at each occurrence is independently selected from a C₁-C₁₀ alkylgroup, a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group, halogen, nitro, —C(═O)NHR, or —C(═O)OR,where R is C₁-C₈ alkyl group;

R₃ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or a substituted or unsubstituted C₆-C₁₀ arylgroup; and

n is 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

In certain embodiments, L₂ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, where n is 1-6.

In certain embodiments, L₃ is —(CH₂)_(m)—, where m is 1-12.

In certain embodiments, L₄ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, where n is 1-6.

In certain embodiments, L₄ is absent.

In certain embodiments, R₁ is C₁-C₅ alkyl.

In certain embodiments, R₂ is C₁-C₈ alkyl.

In certain embodiments, R₃ is C₁-C₆ alkyl.

In certain embodiments, R₃ is phenyl.

Representative substrates are shown below.

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the substrate has the formula:

In one embodiment, the substrate has the formula:

In a further aspect of the invention, kits for assaying one or moreenzymes associated with a lysosomal storage disease is provided. In oneembodiment, the kit includes one or more reagents (e.g., substrate andinternal standards) of the invention. In certain embodiments, enzymescapable of assay by the kit includes one or more of alpha-L-iduronidase(MPS-I), iduronate-2-sulfatase (MPS-II), heparan N-sulfatase (MPS-IIIA),N-acetyl-alpha-D-glycodsaminidase (MPS-IIIB),N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-IVA),N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-VI), andbeta-glucuronidase (MPS-VII).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating amount of aglycone released as a functionof amount of hexosaminidase A added in a representative MPS-VI assay ofthe invention. Aglycone detected by UHPLC-MS/MS.

FIG. 2 is schematic illustration of the preparation of representativeMPS-IVA substrates of the invention.

FIG. 3 is schematic illustration of the preparation of representativeMPS-VI substrates of the invention.

FIG. 4 is schematic illustration of the preparation of representativeMPS-VI substrates of the invention.

FIG. 5 is schematic illustration of the preparation of representativeMPS-VI products.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides reagents for screeningmucopolysaccharidoses I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII, (MPS-I, II,IIIA, IIB, IVA, VI, and VII, respectively), methods for screening forMPS-I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII, and kits that include thereagents.

In one aspect, the invention provides reagents for screening MPS-I, II,IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII screening. In certain embodiments, thereagents of the invention include substrates (S), products (P), andinternals standards (IS) for screening for MPS I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA,VI, and VII.

In another aspect, the invention provides methods for screening for MPSI, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII. The methods assay specific enzymes,the deficiencies of which lead to the lysosomal storage diseaseconditions. The methods advantageously assay one or more ofalpha-L-iduronidase (MPS-I), iduronate-2-sulfatase (MPS-II), heparanN-sulfatase (MPS-IIIA), N-acetyl-alpha-D-glycosaminidase (MPS-IIIB),N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-IVA),N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-VI), andbeta-glucuronidase (MPS-VII).

Reagents

In one aspect, the present invention provides reagents that can beadvantageously utilized to assay enzymes. The reagents include enzymesubstrates (S), enzyme products (P), and assay internal standards (IS).In certain embodiments, one or more substrates (S) and theircorresponding internal standards (IS) are incubated in a suitable bufferwith a suitable source of enzymes such as a dried blood spot from anewborn screening card or a urine sample for a sufficient time to formone or more products (P) that are subsequently detected by tandem massspectrometry. In certain embodiments, the internal standard (IS) ischemically similar or identical to the enzyme-formed product except thestandard has a different mass (e.g., homolog or heavy isotopesubstituted such as deuterium and/or carbon-13 substitutions). In otherembodiments, one or more substrates (S) are incubated in a suitablebuffer with a suitable source of enzymes to form one or more products(P) that are subsequently detected by fluorescence analysis.

Enzymes that are advantageously assayed with the reagents of theinvention include the following:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase, which acts on the substrate MPS-I-S to producethe product MPS-I-P, and the assay makes use of the internal standardMPS-I-IS;

(b) iduronate-2-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate MPS-II-S toproduce the product MPS-II-P, and the assay makes use of the internalstandard MPS-II-IS;

(c) heparan N-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate MPS-IIIA-S toproduce the product MPS-IIIA-P, and the assay makes use of the internalstandard MPS-IIIA-IS;

(d) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glycosaminidase, which acts on the substrateMPS-IIIB-S to produce the product MPS-IIIB-P, and the assay makes use ofthe internal standard MPS-IIIB-IS;

(e) N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on thesubstrate MPS-IVA-S to produce the product MPS-IVA-P, and the assaymakes use of the internal standard MPS-IVA-IS;

(f) N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on thesubstrate MPS-VI-S to produce the product MPS-VI-P, and the assay makesuse of the internal standard MPS-VI-IS; and

(g) beta-glucuronidase, which acts on the substrate MPS-VII-S to producethe product MPS-VII-P, and the assay makes use of the internal standardMPS-VII-IS.

The following is a description of the reagents of the invention,substrates (S), products (P), and internals standards (IS) for MPS-I,MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB, MPS IVA, MPS-VI, and MPS-VII.

Sugar-Aglycone.

The substrates of the invention are glycosides. The term “glycoside”refers to a compound in which a sugar group (glycone) is bonded throughits anomeric carbon to another group (aglycone) by a glycosidic bond.

The substrates of the invention are characterized as having asugar-aglycone structure. The sugar component of the substrates iseither the natural sugar that is a substrate for the particular enzymeor a modified sugar that maintains function sufficient to be a substratefor the particular enzyme to be assayed. The aglycone component of thesubstrate allows for analysis of the enzymatic activity. The aglyconecomponent of the substrate is also a component of the enzyme product,which is analyzed to determine enzymatic activity. The aglyconecomponent includes functionality for analysis for mass spectrometry orfluorescence. When the analysis is by mass spectrometry, an internalstandard having a mass that is different from the product may beemployed. The internal standard is either structurally identical to theproduct and includes one or more isotopes (e.g., deuterium or ¹³C) or isstructurally similar having a functionally equivalent structure and astructural variation (e.g., a homolog: —(CH₂)₅— v. —(CH₂)₆—, or viceversa).

Aglycones.

The reagents of the invention include an aglycone component. The natureof the aglycone can vary depending on the nature of the analyticaltechnique utilized to assay the enzymes of interest. Representativeaglycones are represented by formulae (I)-(VI) below. In the aglyconestructures below, the wavy line depicts the point of attachment to thesugar anomeric carbon.

In certain embodiments, the aglycone is a Type A aglycone having theformula:

where L₁ is a linker that covalently couples G₁ to the coumarin moiety,and where X₁, X₂, X₃, and X₄ at each occurrence is independentlyhydrogen or halogen (e.g., chloro).

In certain embodiments, L₁ includes 1-20 carbon atoms (branched orlinear) in which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with an etheroxygen or —C(═O)O— group; a thioether sulfur or —C(═O)S— group; an NH,an N(R), or —C(═O)NH— or —C(═O)NR— where R is an alkyl group of 1-6carbons. Substitution of one or more of the carbon atom hydrogen atomsis optional. In certain embodiments, L₁ is —CH₂—C(═O)—NH—(CH₂)₅-G₁.

G₁ includes a positively charged group (e.g., a permanently positivelycharged group such as a quaternary ammonium ion) such as one of thefollowing:

(a) N(R_(a))(R_(b))(R_(c))⁺, where R_(a), R_(b), and R_(c) are eachindependently H or an alkyl group of 1-6 carbons;

(b) S(R_(a))(R_(b))⁺, where R_(a) and R_(b) are as above;

(c) a pyridinium of the type

(d) a pyridinium of the type

(e) a pyridinium of the type

or

(f) a pyridinium of the type

In certain embodiments, L₁ is—CH₂—C(═O)—NH—(CH₂)₅—C(═O)NH—CH₂—C₆H₄—N⁺(C₅H₅), where —C₆H₄—N⁺(C₅H₅) isp-pyridinium phenyl.

It will be appreciated that in addition to the coumarin (umbelliferone)aglycones defined above, other fluorescent aglycones can be utilized(e.g., fluoresceins, resorufins, rhodamines, nitrophenols, and7-hydroxy-9H-(1,3-dichloro-9,9-dimethylacridin-2-ones, and theirhalogenated derivatives), as described below.

In certain embodiments, the Type A aglycone has the formula:

wherein R_(d) is hydrogen or methyl, and X₁, X₂, X₃, and X₄ at eachoccurrence is independently hydrogen or halogen (e.g., chloro). Inaddition to the coumarin (umbelliferone) aglycone defined above, it willbe appreciated that other fluorescent aglycones can be utilized.Suitable other aglycones include fluoresceins, resorufins, rhodamines,nitrophenols, and 7-hydroxy-9H-(1,3-dichloro-9,9-dimethylacridin-2-ones,and their halogenated derivatives. For the fluoresceins, resorufins,nitrophenols, and 7-hydroxy-9H-(1,3-dichloro-9,9-dimethylacridin-2-ones,the aglycone is coupled to the sugar through its hydroxy group as in thecoumarins noted above. For the rhodamines, the aglycone is coupled tothe sugar through its amino group.

Type A aglycone components can be included in the reagents of theinvention to impart fluorescent functionality (i.e., coumarin,umbelliferone, fluorescein, resorufin, nitrophenol, rhodamine,7-hydroxy-9H-(1,3-dichloro-9,9-dimethylacridin-2-one moieties) and toprovide reagents that can be analyzed by fluorescence techniques.

In one embodiment, the aglycone is a Type B aglycone and has theformula:

L₂ includes 1-20 carbon atoms (branched or linear) in which one or morecarbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatom (e.g., N, O, S) and/orone or more of the carbon atoms may be substituted (e.g., C₁-C₆ alkyl,halogen). In certain embodiments, L₂ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, where n is 1-6. Incertain embodiments, L₂ is —(CH₂)₂—.

L₃ includes 1-20 carbon atoms (branched or linear) in which one or morecarbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatom (e.g., N, O, S) and/orone or more of the carbon atoms may be substituted (e.g., C₁-C₆ alkyl,halogen). In certain embodiments, L₃ is —(CH₂)_(m)—, where m is 1-12. Incertain embodiments, L₃ is —(CH₂)_(m)—, where m is 4, 5, or 6.

R₁ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group (e.g., branched or linear) or a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxygroup (e.g., OtBu). In certain embodiments, R₁ is a C₁-C₅ alkyl group(e.g., methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, n-pentyl).

R₂ is at each occurrence is independently selected from a C₁-C₁₀ alkylgroup (e.g., branched or linear), a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group (e.g., branchedor linear), halogen (e.g., fluoro, chloro), nitro, —C(═O)NHR, or—C(═O)OR, where R is C₁-C₈ alkyl group (e.g., methyl), and n is 0, 1, 2,3, or 4. Representative substitution patterns (relative to phenolicoxygen) for R₂ include 2-, 2,6-di, 3-, 3,5-di, and 2,3-di (i.e., 2- and6-positions are ortho, and 3- and 5-positions are meta). In certainembodiments, R₂ is a fluoro, methyl, or methoxy group positioned eitherortho or meta to the phenolic oxygen (e.g., 2-fluoro, 2-methyl,2-methoxy, 3-fluoro, 3-methyl, 3-methoxy). In other embodiments, R₂ is afluoro, methyl, or methoxy group positioned meta to the phenolic oxygen.In certain embodiments, n is zero and the phenylene group isunsubstituted.

R₃ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group (e.g., branched or linear) or a substitutedor unsubstituted C₆-C₁₀ aryl group (e.g., phenyl). Aryl groupssubstituents include a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl groups (e.g., branched or linear)and halogens (e.g., chloro). In certain embodiments, R₃ is a C₁-C₆ alkylgroup (e.g., ethyl, n-propyl, n-butyl, n-pentyl). In other embodiments,R₃ is a phenyl group.

In certain embodiments, the Type B aglycone has the formula:

wherein L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as set forth above for formula (III),and R₄ at each occurrence is independently selected from C₁-C₆ alkyl(e.g., methyl) and m is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. In certain embodiments, mis 0. In other embodiments, R₄ is a C₁-C₅ alkyl group (e.g., methyl) andm is 2.

In another embodiment, the Type B aglycone has the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as set forth above for formula(III), and L₄ includes 1-20 carbon atoms (branched or linear) in whichone or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatom (e.g., N, O,S) and/or one or more of the carbon atoms may be substituted (e.g.,C₁-C₆ alkyl, halogen). In certain embodiments, L₄ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, wheren is 1-6. In certain embodiments, L₄ is —(CH₂)—.

In certain embodiments, the Type B aglycone has the formula:

where L₂, L₃, L₄, R₁, R₂, R₄, n, and m are as set forth above forformula (V).

Heavy Atom Derivatives.

In certain embodiments, the reagents of the invention include theirheavy atom derivatives (i.e., derivatives that include one or more heavyatom isotopes). The heavy atom derivatives are useful as internalstandards for assays utilizing mass spectrometric analysis. In certainembodiments, Type A and Type B aglycones have one or more (e.g., threeor more) hydrogen atoms replaced with deuterium, or one or more (e.g.,three or more) carbon atoms replaced with carbon-13 such that the massof the aglycone is increased by one or more Daltons. As between anenzyme product and internal standard pair (e.g., MPS-II-P andMPS-II-IS), the reagents differ in mass and the difference in mass canbe achieved through the use of additional (or fewer) atoms (e.g.,changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes for, for example, L₁, L₂, L₃, L₄, R₁, R₂, R₃, or R₄) orthrough the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuterium for hydrogen,¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen in, for example, L₁, L₂, L₃, L₄, R₁,R₂, R₃, or R₄).

Representative aglycones for substrate/internal standard pairs forMPS-I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, VI, and VII reagents include the following:

for MPS-I substrate (referring to formula (IV)), R₁ is methyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₄ is hydrogenand m is 5; for MPS-I internal standard, R₁ is methyl, R₂ is hydrogenand n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₄ is deuterium and m is5;

for MPS-II substrate (referring to formula (IV)), R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₄ is hydrogenand m is 5; for MPS-II internal standard, R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ is hydrogenand n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₄ is deuterium and m is5;

for MPS-IIIA substrate (referring to formula (IV)), R₁ is ethyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₄ is hydrogenand m is 5; for MPS-IIIA internal standard, R₁ is ethyl, R₂ is hydrogenand n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, R₄ is deuterium and m is 5;

for MPS-IIIB substrate (referring to formula (III)), R₁ is n-butyl, R₂is hydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₃ is ethyl;for MPS-IIIB internal standard, R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ is deuterium and n is4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, R₃ is ethyl;

for MPS-IVA substrate (referring to formula (III)), R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₅—, and R₃ is3,5-dimethylphenyl; for MPS-IVA internal standard, R₁ is n-butyl, L₂ is—CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₅—, R₃ is 3,5-dimethylphenyl, and R₂ is deuteriumand n is 4; and in an alternative embodiment, for MPS-IVA substrate, R₁is n-pentyl, R₂ is hydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—,and R₃ is phenyl; for MPS-IVA internal standard, R₁ is n-pentyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, R₃ is d₅-phenyl;

for MPS-VI substrate (referring to formula (IV)), R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₅—, and R₄ is hydrogenand m is 5; for MPS-VI internal standard, R₁ is n-butyl, R₂ is hydrogenand n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₅—, and R₄ is deuterium and m is5; and

for MPS-VII substrate (referring to formula (III)), R₁ is butyl, R₂ ishydrogen and n is 4, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₃ is propyl;for MPS-VII internal standard, R₁ is butyl, R₂ is deuterium and n is 4,L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₆—, and R₃ is propyl.

Salts.

In certain embodiments, the reagents include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂),carboxylic acid groups (—CO₂H), sulfonic acid groups (e.g., —OSO₃H), andamidosulfonic acid groups (e.g., —NHSO₃H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺, —CO₂, —OSO₃ ⁻,—NHSO₃ ⁻). It will be appreciated that the reagents of the inventioninclude their salts (e.g., metal salts).

The preparation of representative MPS-I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, and VIreagents are described in Examples 1, 4, and 5.

The following is a description of representative reagents (i.e.,compounds) of the invention.

MPS-I Reagents

In one embodiment, the invention provides MPS-I reagents (S, P, and ISreagents) defined by the following formula:

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein

R₁=aglycone, R₂=H

or

R₁=H, R₂=aglycone

R₃=H, OH, NH₂ and R₄=H

or

R₄=H, OH, NH₂ and R₃=H

R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H

or

R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H

R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H

or

R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H

R₉=COOH and R₁₀=H

or

R₁₀=COOH and R₉=H

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

For the above compounds, the aglycone is as described above.

In certain embodiments of the MPS-I reagents defined above, thecarbohydrate portion is replaced by a hydrogen atom; in this case ahydrogen atom is added to the aglycone. These reagents arerepresentative of MPS-I enzyme products and internal standards.

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂)and carboxylic acid groups (—CO₂H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺ or —CO₂ ⁻). It willbe appreciated that the compounds of the invention include their salts(e.g., metal salts).

As noted above, the compounds of the invention include their heavy atomderivatives. The heavy atom derivatives are useful as internalstandards. In certain embodiments, Type A and Type B aglycones have oneor more (e.g., three or more) hydrogen atoms replaced with deuterium, orone or more (e.g., three or more) carbon atoms replaced with carbon-13such that the mass of the aglycone is increased by one or more Daltons.The enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass and thedifference in mass can be achieved through the use of additional atoms(e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuteriumfor hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

In certain embodiments of the MPS-I reagents defined above, thecarbohydrate portion is replaced by a hydrogen atom; in this case ahydrogen atom is added to the aglycone. These reagents arerepresentative of MPS-I enzyme products and internal standards.

Representative MPS-I reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-I substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-I substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, and R₁ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-I substrate has the formula:

MPS-I products formed from the above substrate (MPS-I-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-I product has the formula:

MPS-I internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-I-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III),and where the mass of MPS-I-IS differs from the mass of MPS-I-P suchthat the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry. As noted above,MPS-I-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (not shown in thestructure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g., one or moreof L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₂ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₂ forinternal standard).

A representative MPS-I internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-I product derived from the representative MPS-Isubstrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-I internalstandard.

MPS-II Reagents

In one embodiment, the invention provides MPS-II reagents (S, P, and ISreagents) defined by the following formula:

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof, wherein

R₁=aglycone, R₂=H

or

R₁=H, R₂=aglycone

R₃=OSO₃H, NHSO₃H and R₄=H

or

R₄=OSO₃H, NHSO₃H and R₃=H

R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H

or

R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H

R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H

or

R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H

R₉=COOH and R₁₀=H

or

R₁₀=COOH and R₉=H

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₅ and R₆, and R₇ and R₈can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ring caninclude only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

For the above compounds, the aglycone is as described above.

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In another embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂),carboxylic acid groups (—CO₂H), and sulfonic acid groups (e.g., —OSO₃H),which depending on the pH environment can become charged groups (e.g.,—NH₃ ⁺, —CO₂, —OSO₃ ⁻). It will be appreciated that the compounds of theinvention include their salts (e.g., metal salts).

As noted above, the compounds of the invention include their heavy atomderivatives. The heavy atom derivatives are useful as internalstandards. In further embodiments, Type A and Type B aglycones have oneor more (e.g., three or more) hydrogen atoms replaced with deuterium, orone or more (e.g., three or more) carbon atoms replaced with carbon-13such that the mass of the aglycone is increased by one or more Daltons.The enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass and thedifference in mass can be achieved through the use of additional atoms(e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuteriumfor hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

The MPS-II enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass and thedifference in mass can be achieved through the use of additional atoms(e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuteriumfor hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

Representative MPS-II reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-II substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-II substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, and R₁ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-II substrate has the formula:

MPS-II products formed from the above substrate (MPS-II-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-II product has the formula:

MPS-II internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-II-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III),and where the mass of MPS-II-IS differs from the mass of MPS-II-P suchthat the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry. As noted above,MPS-II-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (not shown in thestructure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g., one or moreof L₂, L₃, R₁, or R₂ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃, R₁, or R₂ forinternal standard).

A representative MPS-II internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-II product derived from the representative MPS-IIsubstrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-II internalstandard.

MPS-IIIA Reagents

In another embodiment, the invention provides MPS-IIIA reagents (S, P,and IS reagents) defined by the following formula:

R₁=aglycone, R₂=H

or

R₁=H, R₂=aglycone

R₃=H, OH, NH₂, NHSO₃H, OSO₃H and R₄=H

or

R₄=H, OH, NH₂, NHSO₃H, OSO₃H and R₃=H

R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H

or

R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H

R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H

or

R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H

R₉=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₁₀=H

or

R₁₀=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₉=H

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein the aglycone is as described above, and

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In another embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂)and amidosulfonic acid groups (e.g., —NHSO₃H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺, —NHSO₃ ⁻). It willbe appreciated that the compounds of the invention include their salts(e.g., metal salts).

The MPS-IIIA enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass andthe difference in mass can be achieved through the use of additionalatoms (e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one ormore methylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g.,deuterium for hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

Representative MPS-IIIA reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-IIIA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-IIIA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, and R₁ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-IIIA substrate has the formula:

MPS-IIIA products formed from the above substrate (MPS-IIIA-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-IIIA product has the formula:

MPS-IIIA internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-IIIA-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III),and where the mass of MPS-IIIA-IS differs from the mass of MPS-IIIA-Psuch that the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry. As notedabove, MPS-IIIA-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (notshown in the structure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g.,one or more of L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂for internal standard).

A representative MPS-IIIA internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-IIIA product derived from the representativeMPS-IIIA substrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-IIIAinternal standard.

MPS-IIIB Reagents In a further embodiment, the invention providesMPS-IIIB reagents (S, P, and IS reagents) defined by the followingformula:

-   -   R₁=aglycone, R₂=H    -   or    -   R₁=H, R₂=aglycone    -   R₃=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₄=H    -   or    -   R₄=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₃=H    -   R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H    -   or    -   R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H    -   R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H    -   or    -   R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H    -   R₉=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₁₀=H    -   or    -   R₁₀=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₁₀=H

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein the aglycone is as described above, and

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

In certain embodiments of the MPS-IIIB reagents defined above, thecarbohydrate portion is replaced by a hydrogen atom; in this case ahydrogen atom is added to the aglycone. These reagents arerepresentative of MPS-IIIB enzyme products and internal standards.

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In the above formula, “NHAc” refers to “NH—C(═O)CH₃.”

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂),which depending on the pH environment can become charged groups (e.g.,—NH₃ ⁺). It will be appreciated that the compounds of the inventioninclude their salts (e.g., metal salts).

The MPS-IIIB enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass andthe difference in mass can be achieved through the use of additionalatoms (e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one ormore methylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g.,deuterium for hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

Representative MPS-IIIB reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-IIIB substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-IIIB substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₃ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-IIIB substrate has the formula:

MPS-IIIB products formed from the above substrate (MPS-IIIB-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III).

A representative MPS-IIIB product has the formula:

MPS-IIIB internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-IIIB-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III), and where the mass of MPS-IIIB-IS differs from the mass ofMPS-IIIB-P such that the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry.As noted above, MPS-IIIB-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes(not shown in the structure above), or can have a structural variation(e.g., one or more of L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, or R₃ for substrate differ fromL₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, or R₃ for internal standard).

A representative MPS-IIIB internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-IIIB product derived from the representativeMPS-IIIB substrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-IIIBinternal standard.

MPS-IVA Reagents

In another embodiment, the invention provides MPS-IVA reagents (S, P,and IS reagents) defined by the following formula:

-   -   R₁=aglycone, R₂=H    -   or    -   R₁=H, R₂=aglycone    -   R₃=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₄=H    -   or    -   R₄=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₃=H    -   R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H    -   or    -   R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H    -   R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H    -   or    -   R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H    -   R₉=CH₂OH, CH₂OSO₃H, CH₂NH₂, CH₂NHSO₃H and R₁₀=H    -   or    -   R₁₀=CH₂OH, CH₂OSO₃H, CH₂NH₂, CH₂NHSO₃H and R₉=H

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein the aglycone is as described above, and

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂)and sulfonic acid groups (e.g., —OSO₃H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺, —OSO₃ ⁻). It willbe appreciated that the compounds of the invention include their salts(e.g., metal salts).

The MPS-IVA enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass andthe difference in mass can be achieved through the use of additionalatoms (e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one ormore methylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g.,deuterium for hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

Representative MPS-IVA reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-IVA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III). R₄at each occurrence is independently selected from C₁-C₆ alkyl (e.g.,methyl) and m is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

In other embodiments, MPS-IVA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-IVA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₄, and m are as described above for formula (IV).

In other embodiments, MPS-IVA substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₃ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-IVA substrate has the formula:

Another representative MPS-IVA substrate has the formula:

MPS-IVA products formed from the above substrate (MPS-IVA-S1) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₄, n, and m are as described above in formula(IV).

In another embodiment, MPS-IVA products formed from the above substrate(MPS-IVA-S2) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₃ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-IVA product has the formula:

Another representative MPS-IVA product has the formula:

MPS-IVA internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrates (MPS-IVA-S1 and MPS-IVA-S2) have the formulae:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, R₄, n, and m are as described above, and themasses of MPS-IVA-IS1 and MPS-IVA-IS2 differ from the masses ofMPS-IVA-P1 and MPS-IVA-P2, respectively, such that the two aredistinguishable by mass spectrometry. As noted above, MPS-IVA-IS1 andMPS-IVA-IS2 can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (not shown inthe structure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g., one ormore of L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, or R₄ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃, R₁,R₂, R₃, or R₄ for internal standard).

A representative MPS-IVA internal standard has the formula:

Another representative MPS-IVA internal standard has the formula:

Representative MPS-IVA products derived from the representative MPS-IVAsubstrates can be assayed using the representative MPS-IVA internalstandards.

A further representative set of MPS-IVA reagents is described below.

A further representative MPS-IVA substrate has the formula:

A further representative MPS-IVA product standard has the formula:

A further representative MPS-IVA internal standard has the formula:

In the above formulas, X is selected from fluoro, methyl, and methoxy.

MPS-VI Reagents

In another embodiment, the invention provides MPS-VI reagents (S, P, andIS reagents) defined by the following formula:

-   -   R₁=aglycone, R₂=H    -   or    -   R₁=H, R₂=aglycone    -   R₃=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₄=H    -   or    -   R₄=H, OH, NH₂, NHR₁₁, where R₁₁=formyl, acetyl,        C=O((CH₂)_(n)CH₃) with n=1-6 and R₃=H    -   R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H    -   or    -   R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H    -   R₇=CH₂OH, CH₂OSO₃H, CH₂NH₂, CH₂NHSO₃H and R₈=H    -   or    -   R₈=CH₂OH, CH₂OSO₃H, CH₂NH₂, CH₂NHSO₃H and R₇=H    -   R₉=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₁₀=H    -   or    -   R₁₀=CH₂OH, CH₂NH₂ and R₉=H

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein the aglycone is as described above, and

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In another embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In the above formulas, “AcNH” refers to “CH₃C(═O)NH.”

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂)and sulfonic acid groups (e.g., —OSO₃H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺, —OSO₃ ⁻). It willbe appreciated that the compounds of the invention include their salts(e.g., metal salts).

The MPS-VI enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass and thedifference in mass can be achieved through the use of additional atoms(e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuteriumfor hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

Representative MPS-VI reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-VI substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-VI substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, and R₁ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-VI substrate has the formula:

MPS-VI products formed from the above substrate (MPS-VI-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-VI product has the formula:

MPS-VI internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-VI-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, and n are as described above for formula (III),and where the mass of MPS-VI-IS differs from the mass of MPS-VI-P suchthat the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry. As noted above,MPS-VI-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (not shown in thestructure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g., one or moreof L₂, L₃, R₁, or R₂ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃, R₁, or R₂ forinternal standard).

A representative MPS-VI internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-VI product derived from the representative MPS-VIsubstrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-VI internalstandard.

MPS-VII Reagents

In one embodiment, the invention provides MPS-VII reagents (S, P, and ISreagents) defined by the following formula:

its salts and heavy atom derivatives thereof,

wherein

R₁=aglycone, R₂=H

or

R₁=H, R₂=aglycone

R₃=H, OH, NH₂ and R₄=H

or

R₄=H, OH, NH₂ and R₃=H

R₅=H, OH, NH₂ and R₆=H

or

R₆=H, OH, NH₂ and R₅=H

R₇=H, OH, NH₂ and R₈=H

or

R₈=H, OH, NH₂ and R₇=H

R₉=COOH and R₁₀=H

or

R₁₀=COOH and R₉=H

with the proviso that only one of the pair of R₃ and R₄, R₅ and R₆, andR₇ and R₈ can have each R group as hydrogen (i.e., the carbohydrate ringcan include only a single methylene group (—CH₂—) in the ring).

For the above compounds, the aglycone is as described above.

In certain embodiments of the MPS-VII reagents defined above, thecarbohydrate portion is replaced by a hydrogen atom; in this case ahydrogen atom is added to the aglycone. These reagents arerepresentative of MPS-VII enzyme products and internal standards.

In one embodiment, the sugar has the formula:

In certain embodiments, the compounds include amino groups (e.g., —NH₂)and carboxylic acid groups (—CO₂H), which depending on the pHenvironment can become charged groups (e.g., —NH₃ ⁺ or —CO₂ ⁻). It willbe appreciated that the compounds of the invention include their salts(e.g., metal salts).

As noted above, the compounds of the invention include their heavy atomderivatives. The heavy atom derivatives are useful as internalstandards. In certain embodiments, Type A and Type B aglycones have oneor more (e.g., three or more) hydrogen atoms replaced with deuterium, orone or more (e.g., three or more) carbon atoms replaced with carbon-13such that the mass of the aglycone is increased by one or more Daltons.The enzyme products and internal standards differ in mass and thedifference in mass can be achieved through the use of additional atoms(e.g., changing the length of a portion of the compound by one or moremethylenes) or through the incorporation of heavy atoms (e.g., deuteriumfor hydrogen, ¹³C for carbon, ¹⁵N for nitrogen).

In certain embodiments of the MPS-VII reagents defined above, thecarbohydrate portion is replaced by a hydrogen atom; in this case ahydrogen atom is added to the aglycone. These reagents arerepresentative of MPS-VII enzyme products and internal standards.

Representative MPS-VII reagents include the following compounds.

In certain embodiments, MPS-VII substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III).

In certain embodiments, MPS-VII substrates have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, and R₃ are as described above for formula (III).

A representative MPS-VII substrate has the formula:

MPS-VII products formed from the above substrate (MPS-VII-S) have theformula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III).

A representative MPS-VII product has the formula:

MPS-VII internal standards useful for assaying products formed from theabove substrate (MPS-VII-S) have the formula:

where L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, R₃, and n are as described above for formula(III), and where the mass of MPS-VII-IS differs from the mass ofMPS-VII-P such that the two are distinguishable by mass spectrometry. Asnoted above, MPS-VII-IS can include one or more heavy atom isotopes (notshown in the structure above), or can have a structural variation (e.g.,one or more of L₂, L₃, R₁, R₂, or R₃ for substrate differ from L₂, L₃,R₁, R₂, or R₃ for internal standard).

A representative MPS-VII internal standard has the formula:

The representative MPS-VII product derived from the representativeMPS-VII substrate can be assayed using the representative MPS-VIIinternal standard.

Reagent Kits

The reagents of the invention can be advantageously combined into kitsto perform enzyme assays. Reagent kits for a particular assay includethe appropriate enzyme substrate and internal standard pair (e.g.,MPS-II-S and MPS-II-IS). In certain embodiments, the kits include morethan one substrate/internal standard pair and can be used to assay morethan one enzyme (i.e., multiplex assay in which two, three, four, five,or six enzymes can be assayed in a single screen). In other embodiments,the kits further include buffers for performing the assays. In otherembodiments, the kits further include the enzymatic products, which canbe used for tuning the mass spectrometer. In other embodiments, the kitsfurther include quality control dried blood spots. Instructions forperforming the assays can also be included in the kits.

Enzyme Assays

The reagents of the invention can be advantageously utilized to assayenzymes associated with a lysosomal storage disease. In the assays, oneor more substrates (S) are incubated in a suitable buffer with asuitable source of enzymes such as a dried blood spot from a newbornscreening card or a urine sample for a sufficient time to form one ormore products (P) that are subsequently detected by tandem massspectrometry. The assay also makes used of an internal standard (IS),which in certain embodiments are chemically identical to theenzyme-formed product, but has a different mass (e.g., heavy isotopesubstituted such as deuterium and/or carbon-13 substitutions). Theincubation is done in a suitable buffer to allow the enzymatic reactionsto proceed (e.g., 100 mM ammonium formate pH 4.5 containing 5 mM bariumacetate and 7.5 mM cerium acetate).

Enzymes that are advantageously assayed with the reagents of theinvention include the following:

(a) alpha-L-iduronidase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-I to producethe MPS-I product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-I internalstandard;

(b) iduronate-2-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-II toproduce the MPS-II product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-IIinternal standard;

(c) heparan N-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-IIIA toproduce the MPS-IIIA product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-IIIAinternal standard;

(d) N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase, which acts on the substrate ofMPS-IIIB to produce the MPS-IIIB product, and the assay makes use of theMPS-IIIB internal standard;

(e) N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on thesubstrate of MPS-IVA to produce the MPS-IVA product, and the assay makesuse of the MPS-IVA internal standard;

(f) N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on thesubstrate of MPS-VI to produce the MPS-VI product, and the assay makesuse of the MPS-VI internal standard; and

(g) beta-glucuronidase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-VII toproduce the MPS-VII product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-VIIinternal standard.

Representative methods for assaying the enzymes noted above aredescribed in WO 2009/026252 (PCT/US2008/073516), WO 2010/081163(PCT/US2010/020801), WO 2012/027612 (PCT/US2011/049224), and WO2013/070953 (PCT/US2012/064205), each expressly incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. The reagents of the invention can beadvantageously utilized in these methods.

Representative assays using the MPS-I, II, IIIA, IIIB, IVA, and VIreagents of the invention are described in Examples 1-11.

The assays of the invention can include variations without departingfrom the invention. Several variations are described below.

In a first embodiment, substrate and internal standard are incubated inassay buffer with enzyme source, followed by quench (e.g., addition ofacetonitrile) and then mass spectrometric analysis (e.g., LC/MSMS) andquantification of the sugar-aglycone product and internal standard (notethat for MPS-I, MPS-IIIB, and MPS-VII, the product is the aglycone (withadded hydrogen)).

In a second embodiment, the assay is as described in the firstembodiment with the exception that the enzymatic reaction mixture isextracted (optionally without quench) with an organic solvent (e.g.,ethyl acetate) suitable for extracting the product and internalstandard, the extracted mixture concentrated to dryness and then takenup in a solvent suitable for flow injection mass spectrometric analysis(e.g., FIA/MSMS).

In a third embodiment, the assay is as described in the secondembodiment with the exception that a suspension of anion exchange resinis added during the quench to trap the substrate.

In a fourth embodiment, the assay is as described in the firstembodiment with the exception that a second enzyme (e.g., aglycohydrolase, such as bacterial beta-N-acetylgalactoaminidase)suitable for cleaving the initial sulfatase product (sugar-aglycone withthe sulfate removed) but not cleaving the substrate is added in theassay cocktail (substrate and internal standard). Following extraction,concentration, and resolubilization, mass spectrometric analysis (e.g.,FIA/MSMS) is carried out leading to the quantification of the aglyconeproduct and internal standard. In some cases there may be an enzyme thatis endogenous in the dried blood spot sample that can act on thesulfated-sugar-aglycone substrate to cleave the glycosidic linkage (i.e.human hexosaminidase A). In this case an inhibitor of this endogenousenzyme may be added to block the action of the endogenous enzyme on theadded substrate. This inhibitor is chosen so as to not block the actionof the glycohydrolase added to the assay.

In a fifth embodiment, the assay is as described in the secondembodiment with the exception that a second enzyme (e.g., aglycohydrolase) suitable for cleaving selective sulfatase sugar-aglyconesubstrates is added in the assay cocktail (substrate and internalstandard). Following quench, mass spectrometric analysis (e.g., LC/MSMS)is used to quantify the aglycone product and internal standard. In amodification of this embodiment, an inhibitor of an endogenous activity(e.g., human hexosaminidase A) is also added to the assay cocktail.

In a sixth embodiment, substrate and internal standard are incubated inassay buffer with enzyme source, then a buffer is added to shift the pH(e.g., to pH 6) to optimize the activity of a second enzyme (e.g., aglycohydrolase), followed by addition of the glycohydrolase (e.g.,bacterial beta-N-acetylgalactoaminidase) and incubation (e.g., 1-2 hrs).The sample is then quenched, and mass spectrometric analysis (e.g.,LC/MSMS) is used to quantify the aglycone product and internal standard.In a modification of this embodiment, an inhibitor of an endogenousenzyme activity (e.g., human hexosaminidase A) is also added to theassay cocktail.

In a seventh embodiment, the assay is as described in the sixthembodiment with the exception that the enzymatic reaction mixture isextracted (optionally without quench) with an organic solvent (e.g.,ethyl acetate) suitable for extracting the product and internalstandard, the extracted mixture concentrated to dryness and then takenup in a solvent suitable for flow injection analysis (e.g., FIA/MSMS).In a modification of this embodiment, an inhibitor of an endogenousenzyme activity (e.g., human hexosaminidase A) is also added to theassay cocktail.

In an eighth embodiment, for the embodiments above that utilizeextraction with an organic solvent to isolate product and internalstandard, after removal of the solvent a solution of a suitableacylating agent (e.g. acetic anhydride) and suitable base (e.g.,triethylamine) in a suitable solvent is added and the resultingcombination incubated (1-2 hr) to provide acylated (e.g., acetylated)aglycone products and internal standards having increased sensitivity inMS analysis.

In a ninth embodiment, the assay is as described in the eighthembodiment with the exception that the acylating agent and base areincluded in the extraction (e.g., ethyl acetate) solvent to cause theaglycone and internal standard to become acylated (e.g., acetylated)during the extraction process or after the extract is allowed toincubate (e.g., for 1-2 hrs).

In a tenth embodiment, substrate and second enzyme (glycohydrolase) areincubated in assay buffer with enzyme source, followed by quench, andthen fluorescence analysis to quantitate fluorescent product. In amodification of this embodiment, an inhibitor of an endogenous enzymeactivity (e.g., human hexosaminidase A) is also added to the assaycocktail. For this embodiment, substrates with Type A aglycone are used.

In an eleventh embodiment, substrate is incubated in assay buffer withenzyme source, then a buffer is added to shift the pH (e.g., to pH 6) tooptimize activity of a second enzyme (e.g., a glycohydrolase), followedby addition of the glycohydrolase (e.g., bacterialbeta-N-acetylgalactoaminidase) and incubation (e.g., 1-2 hrs), thenquench and fluorescence analysis quantification of the fluorescentproduct. In a modification of this embodiment, an inhibitor of anendogenous enzyme activity (e.g., human hexosaminidase A) is also addedto the assay cocktail. For this embodiment, substrates with Type Aaglycone are used.

In certain embodiments, additional assay options are also includedwithin the methods of the invention. Two options are described below.

Assay Option 1.

After the incubation of the desired set of substrates with enzyme sourcein a suitable buffer, the reaction is subjected to liquid-liquidextraction with a suitable solvent such as ethyl acetate. If MPS-II isassayed without use of the second enzyme (glycohydrolase) to generatethe aglycone, the mixture should be acidified to pH about 2-3 with asuitable acid such as citric acid so that the carboxylate group of theMPS-II-P will be protonated and better extract into ethyl acetate. Ifthe second enzyme is used in this assay to remove the sugar, theaglycone will extract well into the solvent without acidificationbecause it does not have a carboxy group. The purpose of theliquid-liquid extraction step is 2-fold: (1) extraction leads to removalof most of the buffer salts, which would interfere with the ionizationprocess in the mass spectrometer; and (2) extraction leads to extractionof most of the enzyme products with minimal extraction of the enzymesubstrates. This is useful because the substrates can partiallydecompose by loss of sulfate in the ionization source of the massspectrometer to form product, and it is only the product generatedenzymatically that one desires to quantify. After liquid-liquidextraction, the ethyl acetate layer is transferred to a new containerand solvent is removed by evaporation. The residue is taken up in asolvent suitable for injection into the mass spectrometer. An examplesolvent is aqueous ammonium formate/methanol mixtures. The products andinternal standards are detected in multiple reaction monitoring mode inwhich the precursor ion is isolated in the first quadrupole and is thensubjected to collision-induced dissociation to form one or more productions. One such product ion is isolated in the third quadrupole and isdetected by the ion detector (tandem mass spectrometry). Eachfragmentation reaction, one for each product and internal standard, ismonitored separately in a duty cycle fashion such that the full set ofproducts and internal standards are quantified. To obtain the moles ofproduct, the mass spectrometry signal (ion counts) for the product isdivided by that for the internal standard, and this ratio is multipliedby the moles of internal standard added to the assay.

Assay Option 2.

A variation of the above assay makes use of a modified pre-massspectrometry sample workup. After the incubation to allow products to begenerated enzymatically from substrates, a small aliquot of a suitableanion exchange resin is added to the mixture. An example resin is DE52from Whatmann. It is well known that anions bind by electrostaticinteraction with cations on the anion exchange resin, in this case allanionic analytes will bind to the resin. The substrates MPS-I-S,MPS-II-S, MPS-IIIA-S, MPS-IVA-S, MPS-VI-S, and MPS-VII-S contain eithera carboxylate (MPS-I-S and MPS-VII-S) or a sulfate ester and will thusbind to the resin. The MPS-I-P, MPS-I-IS, MPS-IVA-P, MPS-IVA-IS,MPS-VI-P, MPS-VI-IS, MPS-VII-P, and MPS-VII-IS lack charge or contain apositive charge (MPS-IIIA-P and MPS-IIIA-IS) and will thus not be boundto the resin. The MPS-IIIB-S, MPS-IIIB-P and MPS-IIIB-IS also lacknegative charge and will not bind to the resin. The MPS-II-S, MPS-II-Pand MPS-II-IS are all anionic and thus will all bind to the resin. Inthis assay option, the assay buffer contains recombinantalpha-L-iduronidase, which acts on MPS-II-P and MPS-II-IS, not onMPS-II-S, to remove the iduronic acid residue from the aglcyone thusleaving behind the free aglycone, which lacks charge. Thus the resultinganalytes derived from MPS-II-P and MPS-II-IS will not bind to the anionexchange resin. If recombinant alpha-L-iduronidase is included, theassay cannot include MPS-I-S because the enzyme will act on MPS-I-S tomake MPS-I-P. The use of alpha-L-iduronidase is not limited to thoseMPS-II assays where anion exchange resin is added. The addition of thisenzyme can also be done for all other MPS-II assays where anionexchanger is not used.

After addition of anion exchange resin, the mixture is extracted withethyl acetate as in Assay Option 1, and all analytes not bound to theresin will extract into ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate layer is thenprocessed as described in Assay Option 1 for analysis by tandem massspectrometry.

Multiplex Assays.

The methods of the present invention provide for analysis of one or moreof MPS-I, MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB, MPS-IVA, MPS-VI, and MPS-VII,including any combination thereof. For embodiments that utilize massspectrometry to quantitate assay products, in certain embodiments, theproduct for each assay is mass distinct. The mass of each productdiffers such that a single assay can be utilized to quantitate all assayproducts. The mass distinctiveness is achieved by choice of substrates.

The representative substrates of MPS-I, MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB,MPS-IVA, MPS-VI, and MPS-VII described above provide mass distinctproducts (i.e., no two products have the same mass). Together with theircorresponding internal standards (see representative internal standardsof MPS-I, MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB, MPS-IVA, MPS-VI, and MPS-VIIdescribed above), the result is the ability to perform and analyze morethan a single assay at a time.

In other embodiments, more than one product ion may have the same mass.In these embodiments, quantitation can be obtained so long as thefragment masses derived from these isobaric products are different(i.e., the combination of parent ion mass/fragment ion mass are uniquefor each species to be quantified in the mixture).

In one aspect, the invention provides a method for simultaneouslyassaying MPS-I, MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS-IIIB, MPS-IVA, MPS-VI, andMPS-VII, or any subset thereof, using the reagents described herein.

Sulfatase Assays: MPS II, IIIA, IVA, and VI Screening

In another aspect, the invention provides assays, reagents, and kits fordetection of sulfatases (MPS II, IIIA, IVA, and VI) associated withlysosomal storage diseases for newborn screening.

Assays of lysosomal enzymes using tandem mass spectrometry are usefulfor newborn screening of lysosomal storage diseases. The assays utilizesubstrates of the general structure: sulfate-sugar-aglycone. Thesesubstrates are acted on by the lysosomal sulfatase to yield the productlacking sulfate: sugar-aglycone. In certain assays, the sugar-aglyconeproduct was detected using tandem mass spectrometry.

The present invention provides an alternative to those sulfatase assays.In certain aspects of the assays of the present invention, a secondenzyme is added to the assay cocktail so as to effect remove of thesugar to provide the aglycone. Tandem mass spectrometry detection of theaglycone is more sensitive than detection of the sugar-aglycone. Thesecond enzyme that removes the sugar does not act on the sulfated sugar(i.e., the second enzyme does not act on the substrate for thesulfatase). Thus, the present invention provides a method that includesan additional step of adding a suitable glycohydrolase or suitablelysase to the assay cocktail to produce the aglycone as the final enzymeproduct, which is then detected by tandem mass spectrometry.

As used herein, the term “glycohydrolase” refers to an enzyme thathydrolyzes glycosides. The term “lysase” refers to an enzyme thatremoves a proton from the sugar C2 and eliminates the glycosidic oxygen(e.g., aglycone leaving group) to provide an unsaturated sugarderivative.

Suitable second enzymes (e.g., glycohydrolases and lysases) arecharacterized in that they do cleave the sugar from the aglycone for theenzyme products described herein (e.g., they only cleave the sugar oncethe sulfate is removed), they do not act on the enzyme substratesthemselves, and they are not inhibited by an inhibitor that is added inthe assays of the invention to block the action of endogenous enzymespresent in the dried blood spot like hexosaminidase A, which can cleavethe sulfated substrate to provide the aglycone.

Suitable second enzymes include glycohydrolases and lysases.

Representative glycohydrolases include human hexosaminidase A, bacterialN-acetylhexosaminidases, bacterial β-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (e.g.,Paenibacillus sp. TS12), alpha-L-iduronidase, β-galactosidase(aspergillus), and α-glucosidase (yeast). Representative lysases includeheparin lysase (heparinase) and heparanase.

Assay Methods. In one aspect, the invention provides methods forscreening for MPS II, IIIA, IVA, and VI. The methods assay specificenzymes, the deficiencies of which lead to the lysosomal storage diseaseconditions. The methods advantageously assay one or more ofiduronate-2-sulfatase (MPS-II), heparan N-sulfatase (MPS-IIIA),N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-IVA), andN-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase (MPS-VI).

As noted above, in the methods of the invention, a second enzyme isutilized to improve the sensitivity of the mass spectrometric assayembodiments and to generate the fluorophore in the fluorescent assayembodiments. In accordance with the methods, a suitable sulfatasesubstrate (i.e., sulfate-sugar-aglycone) is contacted with a sample tobe assessed for sulfatase activity. When the sample includes asulfatase, the substrate is enzymatically converted to an initial enzymeproduct (i.e., sugar-aglycone). In the methods of the invention, asecond enzyme (e.g., a glycohydrolase) acts on the initial enzymeproduct to provide a secondary enzyme product (i.e., aglycone). Analysisof the secondary enzyme product (i.e., the aglycone) by tandem massspectrometry provides increased sensitivity compared to previous assaysin which the second enzyme is not present and which rely on the analysisof the initially formed enzyme product, the sugar-aglycone. Forsubstrates containing a type A aglycone, the second enzyme acts torelease the fluorescent aglycone only after the sulfate is removed. Thisallows the sulfatase to be assayed by fluorescence analysis.

For fluorescent assays the quench can include a buffer to raise the pHto about 10 so that the phenolic hydroxy of the aglycone is deprotonatedthus rendering the product (aglycone) highly fluorescent.

In the assays, one or more substrates (S) are incubated in a suitablebuffer with a suitable source of enzymes such as a dried blood spot froma newborn screening card or a urine sample for a sufficient time to formone or more products (P1) that are subsequently subjected to a secondenzyme (i.e., a glycohydrolase) to provide secondary enzyme products(P2) that are detected by tandem mass spectrometry. The assay also makesused of an internal standard (IS), which in certain embodiments arechemically identical to the enzyme-formed product, but has a differentmass (e.g., heavy isotope substituted such as deuterium and/or carbon-13substitutions). In certain assays, the internal standard is also actedon by the second enzyme to form the final internal standard that isdetected by tandem mass spectrometry. The incubation is done in asuitable buffer to allow the enzymatic reactions to proceed. A suitablebuffer is for example 100 mM ammonium formate pH 4.5 containing 7.5 mMbarium acetate and 5 mM cerium acetate.

Enzymes that are advantageously assayed with the reagents of theinvention include the following:

(a) iduronate-2-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-II toproduce the MPS-II product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-IIinternal standard;

(b) heparan N-sulfatase, which acts on the substrate of MPS-IIIA toproduce the MPS-IIIA product, and the assay makes use of the MPS-IIIAinternal standard;

(c) N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on thesubstrate of MPS-IVA to produce the MPS-IVA product, and the assay makesuse of the MPS-IVA internal standard; and

-   -   (d) N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfate-sulfatase, which acts on the        substrate of MPS-VI to produce the MPS-VI product, and the assay        makes use of the MPS-VI internal standard.

In certain embodiments, additional assay options are also includedwithin the methods of the invention Assay options 1 and 2 noted abovecan be utilized in these assay methods.

Reagents.

Reagents for screening MPS II, IIIA, IVA, and VI include substrates (S),products (P), and internals standards (IS) for screening for MPS II,IIIA, IVA, and VI.

The reagents can be advantageously utilized to assay enzymes. Thereagents include enzyme substrates (S), enzyme products (P), and assayinternal standards (IS). In certain embodiments, one or more substrates(S) and their corresponding internal standards (IS) are incubated in asuitable buffer with a suitable source of enzymes such as a dried bloodspot from a newborn screening card or a urine sample for a sufficienttime to form one or more products (P) that are subsequently subject to asecond enzyme (e.g., a glycohydrolase) to provide a second enzymeproduct that is detected by tandem mass spectrometry. In certainembodiments, the internal standard (IS) is chemically identical to theenzyme-formed product except the standard has a different mass (e.g.,heavy isotope substituted such as deuterium and/or carbon-13substitutions).

Reagents useful in the assay of these sulfatases include substrates (S),products (P), and internals standards (IS) for MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPSIVA, and MPS-VI, including those described herein.

Representative assays for MPS-II, MPS-IIIA, MPS IVA, and MPS-VI aredescribed in Examples 7-11.

Representative Assays and Results for MPS IVA and VI Screening

As described above, glycohydrolase and lysase enzymes are used toimprove the sensitivity of assaying sulfatases using mass spectrometryand to provide fluorescent aglycone products for fluorescent assays. Ina related aspect, a method is provided that further includes the step ofadding an inhibitor to block endogenous glycohydrolase activity.

Suitable inhibitors block endogenous glycohydrolase activity, but do notsignificantly inhibit the activity of the added glycohydrolase. Driedblood spots contain, for example, hexosaminidase A, which can act on thesulfated substrate to form the aglycone in one step. In this case it isoptimal to add an inhibitor of the hexosaminidase when the aglycone ismeasured by tandem mass spectrometry or fluorimetry in order to quantifythe sulfatase enzyme. The added inhibitor should not significantlyinhibit the second enzyme, which is added to the assay to convert theinitial sulfatase product to the aglycone.

Suitable inhibitors block the hexosaminidase(s) in the biologicalsample, but do not fully block the second enzyme. The inhibitor maypartially block the latter, but not so completely that the latter canconvert most if not all of the initial sulfatase product to itsaglycone. Suitable inhibitors inhibit human hexosaminidinase A, humanhexosaminidinase B, and/or human hexosaminidinase X.

Representative inhibitors include(Z)—O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranosylidene)-aminoN-phenylcarbamate (Z-PUG-NAc), 1-deoxynojirmycin, castanospermine,swainsonine, calystegine B₂, isofagamine, Tamiflu,gluconohydroximolactone, glucuronic acid and its lactones and lactams,Relenza, miglitol, phenethyl substituted gluco- and galacto-imidazoles,N-hydroxyethyl dehydronojirimycin, GalNAc thiazoline, and GlcNActhiazoline.

Representative assays for MPS-IVA and MPS-VI are described below.

Representative Assay for Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA.

In one embodiment, an assay is provided for MPS-IVA, also known asMorquio A syndrome, to detect N-acetylgalactosamine-6-sulfatase (alsoknown as GALNS and used herein interchangeable with this term), theenzyme that is deficient in MPS-IVA. The GALNS substrate wasN-acetyl-galactose-6-sulfate attached to the aglycone where R₁ isn-butyl, L₂ is —CH₂CH₂—, L₃ is —(CH₂)₅—, and R₃ is phenyl (see below).The assay includes adding an enzyme that removes N-acetylgalactosaminefrom aglycone, only after the 6-sulfate has been removed. An enzyme forremoving N-acetylgalactosamine from aglycone is beta-hexosaminidase(e.g., human hexosaminidase A), which cleaves beta-glycosides toN-acetylgalactosamine and N-acetylglucosamine residues. The biologicalsample may contain human hexosaminidase A and other humanhexosaminidases. Human hexosaminidase A can act on the MPS-IVA substrateto generate the aglycone. As shown in Table 1, human hexosaminidase Acan cleave the glycoside even when the sugar is sulfated at the6-position. See rows in which Z-PUG-NAc is omitted.

Table 1 also shows that the amount of hexosaminidase A endogenous indried blood spots causes problems in the assay of GALNS using driedblood spots for newborn screening of Morquio A syndrome.

TABLE 1 Assay results for GALNS. GALNS aglycone internal product peakarea GALNS standard (substrate (product internal aglycone Expt.Additives to substrate without sulfate) without standard peak numberSample in assay buffer peak area sugar) peak area area 1 3 mm dried 1 mMZ-PUG-NAc, 46,100 411,000 278 54,400 blood spot 0.01 mg beta-NGA punch 23 mm filter 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc, 422 42,000 3,290 15,900 paper punch 0.01 mgof bacterial (no blood) enzyme 3 3 mm dried 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc, 121,00042,900 23,500 940 blood spot no beta-NGA punch 4 3 mm filter 1 mMZ-PUG-NAc, 753 22,700 14,700 412 paper punch no beta-NGA (no blood) 5 3mm dried 0.01 mg beta-NGA, 25,100 1,350,000 852 49,200 blood spot noZ-PUG-NAc punch 6 3 mm dried Nothing 110,000 1,110,000 17,900 17,100blood spot punch 7 3 mm filter 0.01 mg beta-NGA, 253 19,800 1,920 22,200paper punch no Z-PUG-NAc (no blood) 8 3 mm filter Nothing 820 14,50012,100 648 paper punch (no blood)

In certain embodiments, the bacterial enzyme,beta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (beta-NGA) from Paenibacillus sp. TS12(J. Biol. Chem. 2011, 286, 14065-14072), is used in the assays. Thisenzyme is not structurally related to human hexosaminidases, and datashown in Table 1 shows that the bacterial enzyme cleaves beta glycosidesto N-acetyl-galactosamine when it is not sulfated on the 6-position, andthat the enzyme does not significantly act on the substrate when itbears the sulfate.

In certain embodiments, the inhibitor of human hexosaminidase A is usedin the assays to block human hexosamidinase A action on the GALNSsubstrate. In certain embodiments, the inhibitor does not significantlyinhibit beta-NGA.

The GALNS substrate used in the above assay has the following structure:

Representative assays use dried blood spots on newborn screening cardsas a source of GALNS. These assays also use beta-NGA as well as theinhibitor of human hexosaminidase A: Z-PUG-NAc((Z)—O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranosylidene)-aminoN-phenylcarbamate).

The GALNS enzyme in the dried blood spots acts on the GALNS substrateshown above to liberate the product (i.e., the GALNS substrate withoutthe 6-sulfate). The bacterial beta-NGA in the assay cocktail acts on theGALNS substrate without the 6-sulfate to liberate the aglycone, and doesnot act on the GALNS substrate. The addition of Z-PUG-NAc to the assaycocktail blocks the ability of endogenous human hexosaminidase A to acton GALNS substrate to generate the aglycone. The algycone is thendetected by tandem mass spectrometry. Thus, aglycone formation marks theaction of GALNS, and sensitivity is gained by detecting the aglyconerather than the initially formed desulfated product.

Representative sulfatase assays for MPS-IVA are described in Example 10.

Representative Assay for MPS-VI.

In another embodiment, the invention provides an assay that wasdeveloped for MPS-VI, to detect arylsulfatase B (ASB), the enzyme thatis deficient in MPS-VI, also known as Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome.

The following ASB (MPS-VI) substrate was used in the assay:

ASB removes the 4-sulfate from the N-acetyl-galactosamine-4-sulfategroup from the ASB substrate. Prior to the present invention, no datawas available on the ability of human hexosaminidase A to act onN-acetyl-galactosamine-4-sulfates. Recombinant human hexosaminidase Aacts on the ASB substrate to liberate aglycone. Aglycone was detected byUHPLC-MS/MS (see FIG. 1 ).

FIG. 1 shows that the amount of this aglycone increases as the amount ofhexosaminidase A is added to the mixture. The mixture includes 1 mM ASBsubstrate in 100 mM ammonium formate buffer, pH 5.6 containing theindicated amount of hexosaminidase. After incubation for 5 hrs at 37°C., the mixture is analyzed by UHPLC-MS/MS. The aglycone signal is notdue to contamination of the substrate with aglycone because no aglyconeis seen when hexosaminidase A is omitted. The aglycone is not the resultof cleavage of the ASB in the electrospray ionization source of the massspectrometer because the amount of aglycone increases with increasinghexosaminidase A (FIG. 1 ), and the UHPLC retention time of the aglyconematches that of an authentic aglycone, and this is different than theretention time of the ASB substrate. Thus, hexosaminidase A acts on theASB substrate to produce algycone. Because hexosaminidase A acts on ASBsubstrate to produce algycone, this enzyme cannot be used in a coupledassay of ASB, and furthermore it is important to inhibit hexosaminidaseA so as not to generate aglycone directly from the ASB substrate.

Having established the action of human hexosaminidase A on the ASBsubstrate, the ASB assay was developed, using the same approachdeveloped for GALNS, namely adding beta-NGA and Z-PUG-NAc. Results aregiven in Table 2 below. The experiments were carried out as for theGALNS assays (see Example 10) but with 1 mM ASB substrate replacing theGALNS substrate.

TABLE 2 Assay results for ASB. ASB product aglycone (substrate peak areaASB internal without (product internal standard Expt. Additives tosubstrate in sulfate) without standard aglycone Number Sample assaybuffer peak area sugar) peak area peak area 1 3 mm dried 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc,154,000 1,570,000 39 50,800 blood spot 0.01 mg beta-NGA punch 2 3 mmfilter 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc, 404 58,300 210 25,600 paper punch 0.01 mg ofbacterial (no blood) enzyme 3 3 mm dried 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc, 371,000 39,90020,900 1,320 blood spot no beta-NGA punch 4 3 mm filter nothing 3,43033,800 17,700 840 paper punch (no blood)

Comparison of Experiment 1 (complete assay with blood) to Experiment 2(no blood control) shows that beta-NGA present converts most of the ASBinternal standard to its aglycone in both experiments. The amount ofaglycone, 1,570,000 with blood, is well above that formed in theno-blood control, 58,300. Experiment 3 has blood and Z-PUG-Nac, but nobeta-NGA, and the amount of ASB product, 371,000 is compared to thesignal of 1,570,000 for its aglycone in the presence of beta-NGA, againshowing the sensitivity advantage of converting the product to theaglycone. Finally, Experiment 4 has no blood and no beta-NGA orZ-PUG-NAc, showing that the ASB substrate is contaminated with smallamounts of the product, 3,340 and its aglycone, 33,800.

The present invention provides for the use of any enzyme that has theproperties described herein below for execution of assays of GALNS andASB enzymatic activities:

(a) the enzyme used in the assays described herein should cleave thesugar to yield the aglycone only if the sugar does not bear a sulfate atthe 4- or 6-positions; and

(b) the enzyme used in the assays described herein should not besignificantly inhibited by an inhibitor added to the assay mixture thatsignificantly inhibits human hexosaminidase A present in the biologicalsample (e.g., dried blood spot) that is the source of lysosomal enzymeto be assayed.

Fluorescence Detection.

In some embodiments, certain assays of the invention are also useful inthe assay of the enzymes described herein using fluorescence methods. Inone aspect, aglycone is fluorescent but is less fluorescent when itforms a glycosidic linkage to the sugar. Thus in one aspect, thecombined action of arylsulfatase B (ASB) and bacterialN-acetylgalactosaminidase leads to an increase in fluorescence signaldue to the formation of the highly fluorescent aglycone. A fluorogenicglycoside suitable for use with the assays of the present invention isshown below.

The fluorogenic glycoside shown above is a fluorogenic ASB substratecontaining a glycoside to 7-hydroxycoumarin bearing an additionalsubstituent (R group). The consecutive action of ASB followed bybacterial N-acetylgalactosaminidase leads to the substituted7-hydroxycoumarin, which is more fluorescent than the glycoside. Thus,the ASB is assayed by observation of an increase in fluorescence signal.Other fluorophores can also be used, so long as the glycoside is asubstrate for ASB and N-acetylgalactosaminidase and the fluorophorechanges its fluorescence intensity when the glycoside is cleaved. Itwill be appreciated that fluorescence intensity is significantlyincreased at high pH when the phenol becomes phenoxide as a result ofdeprotonation. Experimentally, in certain embodiments, the assay isquenched with a pH 10.5 buffer to reveal fluorescence.

Previously, there had been no use of this method to assay ASB or use ofan enzyme to selectively cleave the glycoside only when it is notsulfated. This method can also be used to assay GALNS with the suitablesubstrate containing a sulfate on the 6-position of the sugar residue.The invention provides an assay that uses a substrate based onN-acetyl-galactosamine-6-sulfate, which is acted on by GALNS morerapidly than other substrates, such as 4-methylumbelliferone attached asa glycoside to galactose-6-sulfate.

The following examples are provided for the purpose of illustrating, notlimiting, the invention.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Synthesis of Representative MPS-I and MPS-II Reagents

In this example, the synthesis of representative MPS-I(MPS-I-S-Acetyl-C6 and MPS-I-IS-Acetyl-C6) reagents and MPS-II(MPS-II-S-Pentanoyl-C6 and MPS-II-IS-Pentanoyl-C6) reagents isdescribed.

Synthesis of 1-F-2,3,4-Triacetoxy-Iduronic Acid Methyl Ester

The synthesis of 1-F-2,3,4-triacetoxy-iduronic acid methyl ester isdescribed below.

Step 1

A 50.05 g (133.0 mmol) portion of methyl1,2,3,4-tetra-O-acetyl-alpha,beta-glucopyranosyluronate (Carbosynth, UK)was suspended at 0° C. in 295 mL 33% HBr/acetic acid (Acros Cat.123180010) under nitrogen and stirred for 15 minutes at 0° C. Thereaction was allowed to warm to room temperature and stirring continuedfor 3 hours. The reaction was diluted with 295 mL of toluene and thenconcentrated on a rotary evaporator (30-35° C. water bath with wateraspirator suction). The residue was dissolved in 800 mL EtOAc, washedwith 500 mL of ice-cold saturated aqueous NaHCO₃, washed with ice-coldbrine and then dried over anhydrous Na₂SO₄. The solution was filtered,and the solvent was removed by rotary evaporation as above. The compoundwas placed under high vacuum for 1 hour at room temperature. Proton-NMR(CDCl₃) is consistent with the product. TLC on silica with 20%EtOAc/hexane (charring with 5% H₂SO₄ in MeOH) shows the product at R_(f)about 0.6 with the starting material at R_(f) about 0.5. Two small spotswere seen just above the origin.

The crude bromide from above was dissolved in 600 mL of anhydrousacetonitrile and stirred under nitrogen for about 5 minutes to dissolvethe bromide. The flask was wrapped in aluminum foil to exclude light.20.27 g of AgF (Oakwood Cat. 002862) was added in one portion. Thereaction was stirred in the dark under nitrogen at room temperature for24 hours. TLC on silica with 20% EtOAc/hexane (charring with 5% H₂SO₄ inMeOH) shows the product at R_(f) about 0.5 with the starting material atR_(f) about 0.6. The mixture was filtered through a pad of Celite withsuction, and the filtrate was then concentrated by rotary evaporation(30-35° C. water bath with water aspirator for suction). 180 g silicawas loaded into a glass column and hexanes were passed through thecolumn. The compound was dissolved in EtOAc and a minimal amount of drysilica was added. The EtOAc was removed by rotary evaporation, and theresulting compound/silica mixture was loaded onto the top of the column.The column was run with low air pressure. Initially 1 L of 100% hexaneswas passed through the column and no product eluted. The column was thenrun with 2 L of 20% EtOAc/hexanes and no product eluted. 1 L of 25%EtOAc/hexanes also did not elute the product. The column was finally runwith 3 L of 30% EtOAc/hexanes and all of the product eluted. Thefractions were pooled, and the solvent was removed by rotary evaporationto give a white, crystalline solid. The product was dried under highvacuum for 1 hour at room temperature to give 27.0 g of product (60.4%yield). Proton-NMR in CDCl₃ was consistent with the product.

Step 2

6.0 g of the fluoride from above and 6.0 g of NBS (Aldrich Cat.B81255-500G, recrystallized from hot water, dried overnight under highvacuum) was dissolved in 240 mL CCl₄ (JT Baker Cat. 1512-3) and stirredunder nitrogen in a round-bottom flask positioned next to a UV lamp (450W, Ace Glass 7825-34 lamp in a quartz jacket with water circulation tocool the lamp). Another round-bottom flask with an identical reactionwas placed on the opposite side of the same UV lamp. Two reactions wererun simultaneously in this fashion.

The outside of hood was covered with aluminum foil to protect thechemist. The lamp was turned on and the reaction refluxed at 78° C. for2 hours. The lamp was turned off, about 6 g portion of NBS was added toeach of the reactions, the UV lamp was turned back on and reactions wereallowed to continue refluxing. After another 2 hours, additional about 6g portions of NBS were added as above and refluxing continued in thepresence of the UV lamp for 3 more hours. After a total of 7 hours, thelamp was turned off and reactions were allowed to cool to roomtemperature. Each reaction was filtered through glass wool and the woolwas washed with 50 mL of CCl₄. The solvent was removed by rotaryevaporation (35° C. water bath with water aspirator for suction). TLCwith 30% EtOAc/hexanes showed the product spot at R_(f) about 0.6running just above starting material (charring with 5% H₂SO₄ in MeOH).4×6 g scale reactions were purified simultaneously on a column with 180g silica. The compound was dissolved in EtOAc, a minimum amount of drysilica was added, the EtOAc was removed by rotary evaporation and thesilica/compound mixture was then loaded to the top of the column. Thecolumn was run with 1 L of 100% hexanes and no product eluted. Thecolumn was run with 2 L of 10% EtOAc/hexanes and no product eluted. Thecolumn was run with 3 L of 20% EtOAc/hexanes and the product eluted asthe slower of two spots visualized by TLC. The fractions (from 700 mL to1300 mL of added 3 L) that contained the minor product (the faster TLCspot) were discarded. All product containing fractions (from 1400 mL to2500 mL of added 3 L) were combined, and the solvent was removed byrotary evaporation, giving a viscous yellow liquid that became acrystalline solid upon standing overnight. This solid was placed underhigh vacuum for 12 hours. 18.90 g of total product was obtained from 4×6g reactions (63.3% yield).

Step 3

9.92 g of the bromide from above was dissolved in 154 mL of toluene (notdry; Macron Chemicals cat #4483-4L) and stirred under nitrogen. 10.0 mLof Bu₃SnH (either Aldrich 234188-10G or Acros 215730500) was added andthe mixture was refluxed at 110° C. for 1 hour. TLC (10% EtOAc intoluene) showed some starting material left, so refluxing was continuedfor an additional hour. TLC was repeated and indicated that the reactionwas complete. The round bottom flask was allowed to cool to roomtemperature, and the solvent was removed by rotary evaporation (about40° C. water bath with water aspirator for suction).

180 g silica was loaded into a column. The crude residue was absorbedonto silica and loaded onto the column as before. The column was runwith 1 L of 100% toluene and no product eluted. The column was run with1 L of 10% EtOAc/toluene and no product eluted. The column was run with2.5 L of 20% EtOAc/toluene and the product eluted as the slower of twospots at R_(f) about 0.6 (TLC in 10% EtOAc/toluene). The faster spot atR_(f) about 0.7 was the glucuronic acid, minor product. The fractions(from 600 mL to 1000 mL of the 2.5 L) that contained the faster TLC spotwere discarded. The fractions containing the product (from 1100 mL to2100 mL of the 2.5 L) were pooled and concentrated by rotary evaporation(about 40° C. water bath with water aspirator for suction) and placedunder high vacuum for 3 hours to give 5.2 g of the product (64.7%yield). The product is a clear, viscous liquid upon purification.

Aglycone Preparation

The aglycones can be made by two methods. The first method utilizesMichael addition of commercial mono-BOC-1,6-hexanediamine toHO-Ph-NHCO—CH═CH₂ followed by acetylation of the secondary amine,removal of the BOC, and benzoylation of the primary amine. Somebenzoylation of the phenol-OH occurs, but this ester is cleaved bysaponification prior to sample workup. The second method includestreating mono-BOC-1,6-hexanediamine with benzoyl chloride, removal ofBOC to give the mono-benzoyl-1,6-hexanediamine, which is used in theMichael addition followed by acetylation of the secondary amine. Becausebenzoylation and BOC removal are both nearly quantitative, each route isessentially equivalent.

Mono-benzoylation of symmetric diamines (Tang, W.; Fang, S. TetrahedronLett. 2008, 49, 6003)

To methyl benzoate (1.0 g, 7.34 mmol), pentane-1,5-diamine (0.75 g, 7.34mmol), and water (0.37 mL) were added and the mixture was heated to 100°C. for 24 hours under constant stirring. The reaction mixture was cooledto room temperature and directly loaded on to a short silica column (thesilica column was pre-flushed with 4% triethylamine in chloroformfollowed by 100% chloroform before loading the reaction mixture). Uponelution with 30% of methanol in chloroform the desired mono-benzoylatedproduct was obtained (0.80 g, 53%) as pale yellow oil. ¹H NMR (300 MHz,MeOD) δ 7.83 (d, J=7.4 Hz, 2H), 7.58-7.31 (m, 4H), 3.41 (t, J=7.0 Hz,2H), 2.76 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 2H), 1.74-1.21 (m, 6H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+H]⁺;calculated: 207.1, found: 207.2.

Method 1.

A solution of 4-aminophenol (50 g, 458 mmole) in CH₂Cl₂ (400 mL) andsaturated NaHCO₃ in water (400 mL) was stirred for 10 min at roomtemperature, then acryloyl chloride (40.9 mL, 503.8 mmole) was addeddropwise and the reaction stirred for an additional 6 hr at roomtemperature. The resulting solid was collected by filtration, washedwith water and dried under vacuum (oil pump) to afford 75 g of4-acrylamido-phenol.

4-Acrylamido-phenol (163 mg, 1 mmol) and mono-BOC-1,6-hexanediamine (ArkPharm Inc.) (237 mg, 1.1 mmol) were dissolved in a solution ofisopropanol (9 mL) and water (1 mL) and heated in an oil bath at 65° C.for 48 hrs. The reaction mixture was concentrated by rotary evaporationto afford the Michael addition product, which was used in the next stepwithout further purification.

To the residue from the above step was added CH₂Cl₂ (4 mL) and 4 mL ofsaturated sodium bicarbonate in water. Acetyl chloride (0.21 mL, 3mmole) was added dropwise at room temperature with stirring, and themixture was stirred for an additional 3 h at room temperature. Thelayers were allowed to separate, and the CH₂Cl₂ layer was concentratedby rotary evaporation.

The residue was dissolved in 4 mL of CH₂Cl₂ and 2 mL of 4 M HCl indioxane was added dropwise with stirring. Stirring was continued at roomtemperature for 1 hr. The resulting solid was collected by filtration,and the solid was dried under vacuum (oil pump).

To the above solid was added 10 mL of CH₂Cl₂ and 10 mL of saturatedsodium bicarbonate in water. Benzoyl chloride (0.23 mL, 2 mmole) wasadded dropwise with stirring, and the mixture was stirred an additional3 hr at room temperature. The layers were allowed to separate, and theCH₂Cl₂ layer was concentrated with a rotary evaporator.

The residue was dissolved in 2 mL of MeOH, and 2 mL of 5% NaOH in waterwas added. The mixture was stirred for 30 min at room temperature (thisstep is necessary to remove any benzoylated phenol). The mixture wasneutralized with 1 M HCl and extracted with EtOAc. The organic layer wasdried over Na₂SO₄, filtered and solvent was removed by rotaryevaporation. The residue was submitted to silica gel chromatography with5% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂ to give 170 mg of pure product (40% overall yield).

Method 2.

To an ice-cooled solution of mono-BOC-1,6-hexanediamine.HCl (20 g, 79.12mmol) in dry dichloromethane (350 mL) was added anhydrous triethylamine(33 mL, 237.4 mmol) dropwise with stirring under nitrogen atmosphere.After 10 min, benzoyl chloride (9.64 mL, 83 mmol) was added dropwise at0° C., and the resulting mixture was stirred overnight at roomtemperature. Water (200 mL) was added, and the aqueous layer wasextracted twice with 200 mL portions of CH₂Cl₂ and the organic extractswere combined and washed with water, brine and dried over anhydrousNa₂SO₄, filtered and concentrated by rotary evaporation. The resultingsolid was washed with hexane to remove the less polar impurities, andthe solid was used for next step without purification.

The above solid was dissolved in 100 mL of CH₂Cl₂ and 300 mL of 20% TFAin CH₂Cl₂ was added dropwise at 0° C. with stirring, and the resultingmixture was stirred overnight at room temperature. The reaction mixturewas concentrated by rotary evaporation. The resulting residue wasdissolved in 300 mL water and washed twice with 200 mL portions ofCH₂Cl₂ to remove less polar impurities. The resulting water layer wasneutralized with 5% NaOH in water and extracted with four times with 200mL portions of CH₂Cl₂. The organic layers were combined and dried overNa₂SO₄, filtered and solvent removed by rotary evaporation. Theresulting crude product (14.6 g, 66.4 mmol, 84%) was used in the nextstep without further purification. In this way the free amine isobtained, which is needed for the next step (Michael addition).

4-Acrylamido-phenol (8.43 g, 51.6 mmol) andmono-benzoyl-1,6-hexanediamine (12.5 g, 56.8 mmol) were dissolved in asolution of isopropanol (450 mL) and water (50 mL) and heated in an oilbath at 65° C. for 48 hrs. The reaction mixture was concentrated byrotary evaporation to afford the Michael addition product, which wasdivided into 2 parts and used for the next step without furtherpurification.

Acetylation.

To the residue from the above step was added CH₂Cl₂ (100 mL), DMF (10mL) and 100 mL of saturated sodium bicarbonate in water. Acetyl chloride(3.7 mL, 52 mmol) was added dropwise at room temperature with stirring,and the mixture was stirred for an additional 6 h at room temperature.The organic layer was separated, and the water layer was extracted twicewith 50 mL portions of 5% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂. The organic layers werecombined and concentrated by rotary evaporation. The residue waspurified by silica gel column chromatography (1-5% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂) toafford MPS-I aglycone (4.5 g, 10.6 mmol) in 41% yield.

Pentanoylation.

To the residue from the above step was added CH₂Cl₂ (100 mL), DMF (10mL) and 100 mL of saturated sodium bicarbonate in water. Pentanoylchloride (6.17 mL, 52 mmol) was added dropwise at room temperature withstirring, and the mixture was stirred for an additional 6 h at roomtemperature. The organic layer was separated, and the water layer wasextracted twice with 50 mL portions of 5% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂. The organiclayers were combined and concentrated by rotary evaporation. The residuewas purified by silica gel column chromatography (1-5% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂)to afford the MPS-II aglycone (3.5 g, 7.5 mmol) in 29% yield.

MPS-I-IS-Acetyl-C6

The internal standard, MPS-I-P-Acetyl-C6, was prepared as described forthe MPS-I aglycone except using d₅-benzoyl chloride (Aldrich). Theenzymatic product, MPS-I-P-Acetyl-C6, is the MPS-I aglycone (i.e.,identical to the IS, but with non-deuterated benzoyl).

Aglycone Coupling to Iduronyl-F, Deacetylation, and Methyl EsterHydrolysis

The following describes the procedure for coupling with the MPS-IIaglycone. The procedure for coupling with the MPS-I aglycone isanalogous.

MPS-II aglycone (1.9 g, 4.06 mmol, 1 eq), methyl2,3,4-trihydroxy-iduronosy-1-F (1.23 g, 3.66 mmol, 0.9 eq) and2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine (2.5 g, 12.2 mmol, 3 eq) were driedfor 1 hr under high vacuum (oil pump) and dissolved in dry CH₂Cl₂ (80mL, 0.05 M). All of the MPS-II aglycone dissolved before addition ofBF₃-etherate. For the reaction with MPS-I aglycone, more CH₂Cl₂ was usedto give 0.02 M aglycone (not all dissolved even after BF₃-etherate wasadded).

BF₃.Et₂O (5.1 mL, 40.6 mmol, 10 eq) was added dropwise with stirring atroom temperature under a nitrogen atmosphere. After the reaction mixturehad been stirred for 2.5 h at room temperature, 150 mL of saturatedaqueous NaHCO₃ was added. The aqueous layer was extracted with CH₂Cl₂and the organic extracts were combined and washed with water, brine anddried over anhydrous Na₂SO₄. The solution was filtered and concentratedby rotary evaporation. The residue was purified by silica gel columnchromatography (CH₂Cl₂, then 1-4% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂) to afford product(1.87 g, 2.38 mmol) in 65% yield.

Deacetylation.

To a solution of coupled product (2.7 g, 3.44 mmol, 1 eq) in 75 mL ofdry methanol (Aldrich) was added 0.5 M sodium methoxide in methanol(2.75 mL, 1.38 mmol, 0.4 eq) dropwise at 0° C. under a nitrogenatmosphere with stirring. The reaction mixture was stirred at 0° C. for3 h. The reaction mixture was neutralized with AG 50W-X8 resin (H+) andfiltered. The filtrate was concentrated by rotary evaporation. Columnchromatography on silica gel (1-6% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂) afforded product (2.1g, 3.19 mmol) in 92% yield.

Methyl Ester Hydrolysis.

The MPS-I-S-Acetyl-C6 is made by demethylation of the methyl ester. Forthe MPS-II-S-Pentanoyl-C6, the deacetylated compound is sulfated, andthen the methyl ester is hydrolyzed. The MPS-II-P-Pentanoyl-C6 is madeby methyl ester saponification without sulfation, as forMPS-IS-Acetyl-C6. The MPS-II-IS-Pentanoyl-C6 is made as forMPS-II-P-Pentanoyl-C6, but with the aglycone containing a d₅-benzoylgroup.

Deacylated compound (1.5 g, 2.44 mmol, 1 eq) was dissolved in 150 mL ofwater/methanol (1:1) at room temperature. An aqueous solution of sodiumhydroxide 0.1 M was added in increments of 0.1 eq of NaOH until the pHof the solution reached approximately 8 (pH paper). The pH wasmaintained by incremental additions of the 0.1 M NaOH solution as thereaction proceeded (about 2 eq NaOH added). The reaction mixture wasstirred overnight. The reaction mixture was neutralized with 1 M HCl andconcentrated by rotary evaporation. The residue was purified by columnchromatography on silica (5% MeOH and 1% AcOH in CH₂Cl₂, then 10% MeOHand 2% AcOH in CH₂Cl₂) to give product MPS-I-S-Acetyl-C6 (1.45 g, 2.41mmol) in 98% yield.

It is important to remove as much as possible of the MPS-I enzymaticproduct from the substrate otherwise the assay blank will be higher. Thesubstrate can be dissolved in water at pH 7 and extracted with EtOAcbecause the product will extract well. However, the substrate, anionicbecause of its carboxylate, will remain in the water. Dissolve 1.5 g ofMPS-I-S-Acetyl-C6 in 200 mL distilled water and adjust pH to close to 7with KOH using a pH meter. Extract with 3 200 mL potions of EtOAc.Transfer the water layer to a round bottom flask and place on a rotaryevaporator with water aspiration and a water bath at 30° C. and rotovapfor about 20 min to remove any EtOAc in the water. Then lyophilize thewater layer to give the final product, the sodium salt ofMPS-I-S-Acetyl-C6. This procedure produced the substrate containing theMPS-I product. Alternative purifications were investigated.

In one alternative, 50 mg of MPS-I-S-Ac-C6 was dissolved in 5 mL water,adjusted to pH 7 (pH meter) with dilute aqueous NaOH, extracted with 8mL ethyl acetate by vortexing and then centrifuged to separate thelayers, repeat 4 more times (so total 40 mL ethyl acetate). The waterlayer was lyophilized. The amount of MPS-I product was very low andacceptable by this purification.

In another alternative, 120 mg of MPS-I-S-Ac-C6 was purified by flash Sicolumn (10 g Silica) using a linear 1-10% MeOH in CH₂Cl₂ gradient over10 min and then to 20% MeOH/2% water/CH₂Cl₂. The peak of material waspooled in 3 batches, first third, second third and last third of thepeak. The solvent was removed by rotary evaporation with a 30° C. waterbath and water aspiration. Assays done with the 3 separate batchesshowed that the middle and last third peak materials containedacceptable amounts of MPS-I-product.

Sulfation and methyl ester hydrolysis.

Deacetylated compound (2 g, 3.04 mmol, 1 eq) was solubilized inanhydrous MeOH (120 mL) and dibutyltin (IV) oxide (1.13 g, 4.56 mmol,1.5 eq) was added. The reaction mixture was heated under reflux for 1hour under nitrogen, after which time the dibutyltin oxide wascompletely dissolved. The reaction mixture was allowed to cool and wasconcentrated under vacuum. The residue was co-evaporated once withanhydrous toluene (100 mL) to remove traces of water. The residue wassolubilized in anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (120 mL). Sulfurtrioxide-trimethylamine complex (633.8 mg, 4.56 mmol, 1.5 eq) was added,and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature under nitrogenatmosphere for 24 h. The reaction mixture was quenched with MeOH (20mL). The mixture was then concentrated under vacuum. The residue waspurified by column chromatography on silica gel (10% MeOH and 1% H₂O inCH₂Cl₂, then 20% MeOH and 2% H₂O in CH₂Cl₂) to give sulfate compound(1.2 g, 1.63 mmol) in 53.6% yield.

Sulfate compound (1 g, 1.35 mmol) was solubilized in 1:1 methanol-water(100 mL) at room temperature. An aqueous solution of 0.1 M NaOH wasadded in increments of 0.1 equiv of NaOH until the pH of the solutionreached approximately 8 (pH paper). The pH was maintained by incrementaladditions of the 0.1 M NaOH solution as the reaction proceeded (every15-30 min). It is probably important not to go to high in pH as this mayresult in some hydrolysis of the sulfate ester. The reaction mixture wasstirred for overnight (about 2 eq NaOH added), after which it wasconcentrated under vacuum to remove methanol and water. The residue waspurified by column chromatography on silica gel (10% MeOH and 1% H₂O inCH₂Cl₂, then 20% MeOH and 2% H₂O in CH₂Cl₂) to give MPS-II-S (0.77 g,1.06 mmol) in 79% yield.

Removal of non-sulfated material from the sulfated material can beperformed by extraction or ion exchange chromatography as describedbelow.

Extraction Clean Up.

The compound from the silica gel (0.77 g, 1.06 mmol) was dissolved inpure water (200 mL) and 1M HCl was added dropwise to adjust pH to 2.7 bypH meter. The water layer was extracted with EtOAc (5×200 mL). Theremaining water layer was transferred to a round bottom flask which wasplaced on a rotary evaporator with a 30° C. water bath and wateraspiration for 30 min to remove traces of EtOAc from the water layer.The water layer was lyophilized. LC-MSMS on the 5 EtOAc extracts showeda about 100-fold drop in non-sulfated material in the 3^(rd) extractcompared to the first one. The amount in the 4^(th) and 5^(th) extractswere low and similar to the amount in the 3^(rd) extract.

Ion Exchange Purification.

AKTA using solvent A (MeOH) and solvent B (MeOH+1 M ammonium formate).Use commercial Pharmacia HiLoad 26/10 Q-Sepharose column at 3 ml/min.About 10 mg of MPS-II-IS-Pent-C6-d5 was injected in about 0.5 mL ontothe column and held at 100% A for 20 min then a linear gradient was runfrom 0 to 100% B over 30 min and hold at 100% B (elution at 51 min). 22mg of MPS-II-S-Pent-C6 in 1.5 mL MeOH was injected using the aboveprogram (2 ml loop). Substrate elutes at 100 min. Rotovap off MeOH(water aspirator 25-30° C. water bath). The residue was dissolved inabout 10 mL water and load onto a Waters C18 Sep-Pak (50 g size) thatwas previously washed with about 100 mL MeOH than about 100 mL water,wash with about 200 mL water (OD280 nm is close to 0). Compound waseluted with about 200 mL MeOH, additional MeOH had OD280 close to 0,methanol was removed by rotoevaporation (water aspirator, 30 deg C.water bath). The residue dissolved in a few mL MeOH and transfer to 2×5mL glass vials (more MeOH was used to complete the transfer) andsubjected to Speed-Vac overnight without heat.

Example 2 Representative Assay Using MPS-I Reagents

In this example, a representative assay using MPS-I reagents of theinvention is described. The results for these reagents is compared toother MPS-I reagents.

The original MPS-I reaction is shown below (Blanchard, Sophie, Sadilek,Martin, Scott, C. Ronald, Turecek, Frantisek, and Gelb, Michael H.(2008) “Tandem mass spectrometry for the direct assay of Lysosomalenzymes in dried blood spots: Application to screening newborns forMucopolysaccharidosis I,” Clin. Chem., 54:2067-2070.). Note that the S,P and IS have the BOC group and that the P and IS are not chemicallyidentical (the P has 4 CH2 groups in the linker whereas the IS has 3).

An alternative MPS-I reaction is shown below:

Note the different aglycone that has an N-acetyl group, no BOC carbamategroup. Note also that the internal standard is chemically identical tothe product but has 5 deuteriums in the benzoyl group.

The original and alternative MPS-I substrates were compared inside-by-side enzyme assays as follows: 0.5 mM substrate, 3.5 uM internalstandard in 30 uL of buffer (100 mM ammonium formate, pH 4.0). A 3 mmpunch of a dried blood spot was added, and the mixtures were incubatedwith shaking for 16 hours at 37 deg C. The reactions were quenched byaddition 120 uL of acetonitrile. The wells were centrifuged, and 120 uLof supernatant was transferred to a new well. The sample was diluted byaddition of 120 uL of water, and 10 uL was injected onto the LC/MSMSsystem. The LC and MS/MS conditions are as published (Spacil, Z.,Tatipaka, H., Barcenas, M., Scott, C. R., Turecek, F., Gelb, M. H.(2012) “High-Throughput Assay of 9 Lysosomal Enzymes for NewbornScreening.” Clinical Chemistry., 59 (3), 1530-8561). A blank assay isalso carried out in which a blood-free 3 mm punch of filter paper issubstituted for the dried blood spot. The blank is incubated andprocessed as above.

TABLE 3 Comparative MPS-I Assay Results. Enzymatic MSMS responseActivity¹ Coeff. of of IS and P³ blood-no (umole/hr/ Variation on (ioncounts/ blood assay Substrate L blood) activity² pmole) ratio⁴ Original2.4 9.4 100 21 MPS-I Alternative 2.5 5.5 500 34 MPS-I ¹Enzymaticactivity is expressed as umoles of product formed per hour per liter ofblood. ²Coefficient of Variation (CV) is based on 6 runs of the assayeach carried out with a different punch from the same dried blood spot.³MSMS response is the amount of ion counts measured in the tandem massspectrometry channel per pmole of analyte. ⁴Blood-no blood assay ratiois the enzymatic activity measured in an assay with a dried blood spotpunch to that measured with a blood-free punch.

It can be seen from the above table that both MPS-I substrates displaysimilar activity on the MPS-I enzyme (umoles product produced per hr perliter of blood) but that the alternative substrate gives rise to aproduct that is about 5-fold more sensitive in MSMS detection (ioncounts detected per pmole of analyte). Similar results were obtained byflow injection-MSMS. The MSMS response for the alternative MPS-I productand internal standard was about 5-fold higher than the original ones(not shown).

The MSMS response of the MPS-I product was compared to the Fabry assayproduct (structures shown below).

Note the MPS-I product has an acetyl on the amine, whereas the Fabryproduct has the BOC carbamate. The BOC carbamate partially decomposes inthe electrospray ionization source of the MSMS instrument due to loss ofisobutylene and CO₂ to produce the decomposition product with the BOCreplaced with H. The Fabry product gives 211 ion counts per pmole,whereas the MPS-I product gives 500 ion counts per pmole.

Example 3 Representative Assay Using MPS-II Reagents

In this example, a representative assay using MPS-II reagents of theinvention is described. The results for these reagents are compared toother MPS-II reagents.

The original MSP-II reaction is shown below (Wolfe, B. J., Blanchard,S., Sadilek, M., Scott, C. R., Turecek, F., Gelb, M. H. (2011) “Tandemmass spectrometry for the direct assay of Lysosomal enzymes in driedblood spots: Application to screening newborns for MucopolysaccharidosisII (Hunter Syndrome)” Anal. Chem., 83:1152-1156.). Note that the S, Pand IS have the BOC group.

The alternative MPS-II reaction is shown below:

Note the different aglycone that has an N-pentanoyl group and lacks aBOC carbamate group. Note also that the internal standard is chemicallyidentical to the product but has 5 deuteriums in the benzoyl group.

The original and alternative MPS-II substrates were compared inside-by-side enzyme assays as follows: 1 mM substrate, 5 uM internalstandard in 30 uL of buffer (100 mM ammonium formate, pH 4.0, 7.5 mMbarium(II) acetate, 5.0 mM cerium(III) acetate). A 3 mm punch of a driedblood spot was added, and the mixtures were incubated with shaking for16 hours at 37 deg C. The reactions were quenched by addition of 200 uLof 44 mM citric acid followed by addition of 400 uL ethyl acetate and100 uL of water. After mixing up and down a few times with the pipet,the samples were centrifuged (10 min at 3000 rpm) to separate the liquidlayers. A 200 uL portion of the upper ethyl acetate layer wastransferred to a new well, and solvent was removed by evaporation with astream of oil-free air. The residue was taken up in 100 uL of methanol/5mM aqueous ammonium formate (80/20, v/v) and infused into the tandemmass spectrometer. The barium and cerium salts are present toprecipitate free sulfate and phosphate present in the dried blood spotsince these anions cause production inhibition of the MPS-II enzyme. Thecitric acid is used to acidify the mixture so that the carboxylate ofthe iduronic acid portion of the MPS-II product and internal standard isprotonated and is extracted into ethyl acetate. A blank assay is alsocarried out in which a blood-free 3 mm punch of filter paper issubstituted for the dried blood spot. The blank is incubated andprocessed as above.

TABLE 4 Comparative MPS-II Assay Results. Enzymatic MSMS responseActivity¹ Coeff. of of IS and P³ blood-no (umole/hr/ Variation (ioncounts/ blood assay Substrate L blood) on activity² pmole) ratio⁴Original 5 6 8.6 45 MPS-II Alternative 6 12 86 53 MPS-II ¹Enzymaticactivity is expressed as umoles of product formed per hour per liter ofblood. ²Coefficient of Variation (CV) is based on 6 runs of the assayeach carried out with a different punch from the same dried blood spot.³MSMS response is the amount of ion counts measured in the tandem massspectrometry channel per pmole of analyte. ⁴Blood-no blood assay ratiois the enzymatic activity measured in an assay with a dried blood spotpunch to that measured with a blood-free punch.

It can be seen from the above table that both MPS-II substrates displaysimilar activity on the MPS-II enzyme (umoles product produced per hrper liter of blood) but that the alternative substrate gives rise to aproduct that is about 10-fold more sensitive in MSMS detection (ioncounts detected per pmole of analyte).

Example 4 Synthesis of Representative MPS-IVA Substrates and EnzymaticProducts

In this example, the synthesis of representative MPS-IVA substratereagents is described. The general scheme for the synthesis of MPS-IVAsubstrates is shown in FIG. 2 .

(2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-2-(acetoxymethyl)-6-(4-nitrophenoxy)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4-diylDiacetate (1)

Pyridine (60 mL) was added to nitrogen back flushed flask containingD-galactosamine hydrochloride (5 g, 23.2 mmol) and the resultant slurrywas cooled on an ice bath. To the cooled mixture acetic anhydride (25 g,245 mmol) was added dropwise and allowed to warm to room temperaturefollowed by stirring at this temperature for 16 hours. The reactionmixture was quenched with the addition of methanol (15 mL) and let stirfor 20 minutes. The resultant mixture was concentrated under reducedpressure and the residue was dissolved in 20% methanol in chloroformwith the aid of warming the mixture. This solution was washed with 1NHCl solution followed by brine solution. The resultant organic layer wasdried using anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated under reducedpressure. The residue was taken in nitrogen back flushed flask equippedwith a dropping funnel. Anhydrous dichloromethane (100 mL) was added tothis residue and the resultant slurry was cooled on an ice bath. In thedropping funnel titanium chloride (6.5 g, 42.1 mmol) was dissolved inanhydrous dichloromethane (40 mL) and the resulting solution was addeddropwise to the cooled solution. The reaction mixture was warmed to 50°C. in an oil bath and left to stir at this temperature for 48 hours. Thereaction mixture was cooled back on an ice bath and saturated sodiumbicarbonate solution was added dropwise with vigorous shaking. Theresultant mixture was extracted between dichloromethane and saturatedsodium bicarbonate solution. The organic layer was dried using anhydroussodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The resultantresidue was dissolved in acetone (60 mL) and added slowly to a solutionof 4-nitrophenol (16.1 g, 116 mmol) in acetone (130 mL) and 4N KOHaqueous solution (23.2 mL). The reaction was left to stir at roomtemperature for 48 hours and concentrated under reduced pressure to lessthan 20 mL. This solution was extracted between 1N NaOH and chloroform.The organic layer was dried using anhydrous sodium sulfate andconcentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product thus obtained waspurified by silica flash chromatography using 3% methanol indichloromethane as the elution mixture. The fractions with the desiredcompound, as determined by TLC, were combined and concentrated underreduced pressure to get 1 (3.29 g, 30%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl₃) δ 8.20(d, J=9.1 Hz, 2H), 7.09 (d, J=9.1 Hz, 2H), 5.61 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 1H),5.56-5.39 (m, 3H), 4.32-4.07 (m, 4H), 2.18 (s, 3H), 2.07 (s, 3H), 2.04(s, 3H), 1.97 (s, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+Na]⁺; calculated: 491.1, found:491.2.

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)benzamide(2)

To a solution of 1 (3.5 g, 7.47 mmol) in anhydrous methanol (90 mL),cooled on an ice bath, 0.5 M sodium methoxide solution in methanol (3mL, 1.50 mmol) was added dropwise and allowed to warm to roomtemperature. After 2 hours formic acid (0.1 mL) was added to thereaction mixture and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. Tothe resulting residue methanol (135 mL), water (15 mL) and 10% palladiumon activated carbon (125 mg) was added and let to stir under a hydrogenatmosphere at room temperature for 16 hours. Water was added dropwise tothe reaction mixture till the entire white residue was completelydissolved. The reaction mixture was filtered and the filtrate was cooledon an ice bath. To it pyridine (2 mL) and followed by the dropwiseaddition of a solution of acryloyl chloride (2.1 g, 23.2 mmol) indichloromethane (50 mL). The reaction was let to stir on the ice bathfor 30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continued for 2hours. Sodium carbonate powder (3.0 g) was added to the reaction mix andlet to stir for 15 minutes and filtered. The filtrate was concentratedunder reduced pressure and further dried under high vacuum. The residuewas dissolved in 2-propanol (50 mL) and water (6.6 mL) mixture and to itN-(5-aminopentyl)benzamide (2.0 g, 9.69 mmol) was added and let to stirfor 40 hours at 65° C. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and methanol (25 mL) was added to it. Upon cooling thismixture on an ice bath triethylamine (2.5 mL) was added followed by thedropwise addition of a solution of pentanoyl chloride (2.7 g, 22.4 mmol)in dichloromethane (50 mL). The reaction was left to stir on the icebath for 30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continuedfor 16 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated under reducedpressure and subjected to purification by silica flash chromatographyusing 15% methanol in dichloromethane as the elution mixture to yield 2(2.96 g, 60%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.84 (d, J=7.1 Hz, 2H),7.59-7.35 (m, 5H), 7.09-6.91 (m, 2H), 5.00 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 1H), 4.28-4.09(m, 1H), 3.97-3.55 (m, 7H), 3.46-3.24 (m, 4H), 2.72-2.51 (m, 2H),2.49-2.28 (d, J=7.3 Hz, 2H), 2.02 (s, 3H), 1.78-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.49-1.22(m, 4H), 0.94 (t, J=7.1 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+H]⁺; calculated:657.3, found: 657.5.

Sodium((2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-6-(4-(3-(N-(5-benzamidopentyl)-pentanamido)propanamido)phenoxy)-3,4-dihydroxytetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)methylSulfate (3)

To compound 2 (32 mg, 0.048 mmol) under nitrogen anhydrous pyridine (1mL) was added. To this solution sulfur trioxide pyridine complex (18 mg,0.113 mmol) was added and let to stir for 5 hours at room temperature.The reaction was quenched with the addition of methanol (0.3 mL) andstirring for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was concentrated underreduced pressure and redissolved in water and subjected to reversedphase (C18) HPLC purification using water-methanol gradient system toget 3 (23 mg, 63%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.81 (d, J=7.3 Hz, 2H),7.57-7.39 (m, 5H), 7.00 (dd, J=9.0, 2.4 Hz, 2H), 4.93 (d, J=8.5 Hz, 1H),4.38-4.12 (m, 3H), 3.95 (t, J=4.5 Hz, 2H), 3.83-3.61 (m, 3H), 3.49-3.34(m, 4H), 2.72-2.54 (m, 2H), 2.50-2.30 (m, 2H), 1.98 (s, 3H), 1.78-1.49(m, 6H), 1.49-1.24 (m, 4H), 1.02-0.84 (m, 3H). MS (ESI⁻) for [M−Na⁺]⁻;calculated: 735.3, found: 735.5.

N-(6-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)hexanamido)hexyl)benzamide(4)

To a solution of 1 (0.27 g, 0.576 mmol) in anhydrous methanol (9 mL),cooled on an ice bath, 0.5 M sodium methoxide solution in methanol (0.3mL, 0.15 mmol) was added dropwise and allowed to warm to roomtemperature. After 2 hours formic acid (10 μL) was added to the reactionmixture and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. To theresulting residue methanol (13.5 mL), water (1.5 mL) and 10% palladiumon activated carbon (12.5 mg) was added and let to stir under a hydrogenatmosphere at room temperature for 16 hours. Water was added dropwise tothe reaction mixture till the entire white residue was completelydissolved. The reaction mixture was filtered and the filtrate was cooledon an ice bath. To it pyridine (0.16 mL) and followed by the dropwiseaddition of a solution of acryloyl chloride (0.16 g, 1.76 mmol) indichloromethane (4 mL). The reaction was let to stir on the ice bath for30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continued for 2hours. Sodium carbonate powder (0.3 g) was added to the reaction mix andlet to stir for 15 minutes and filtered. The filtrate was concentratedunder reduced pressure and further dried under high vacuum. The residuewas dissolved in 2-propanol (6.3 mL) and water (0.7 mL) mixture and toit N-(6-aminohexyl)benzamide (0.17 g, 0.77 mmol) was added and let tostir for 40 hours at 65° C. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and methanol (8 mL) was added to it. Upon cooling thismixture on an ice bath triethylamine (0.25 mL) was added followed by thedropwise addition of a solution of hexanoyl chloride (0.24 g, 1.78 mmol)in dichloromethane (4 mL). The reaction was left to stir on the ice bathfor 30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continued for 16hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure andsubjected to purification by silica flash chromatography using 15%methanol in dichloromethane as the elution mixture to yield 4 (0.23 g,58%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.80 (d, J=6.9 Hz, 2H), 7.56-7.39 (m,5H), 6.99 (d, J=9.1 Hz, 2H), 4.96 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 1H), 4.17 (dd, J=10.7,8.4 Hz, 1H), 3.96-3.51 (m, 7H), 3.44-3.33 (m, 4H), 2.69-2.50 (m, 2H),2.48-2.28 (m, 2H), 1.98 (s, 3H), 1.72-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.49-1.21 (m, 9H),0.89 (dt, J=8.7, 4.8 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+H]⁺; calculated: 685.4,found: 685.5.

Sodium((2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-6-(4-(3-(N-(6-benzamidohexyl)-hexanamido)propanamido)phenoxy)-3,4-dihydroxytetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)methylSulfate (5)

To compound 4 (99 mg, 0.144 mmol) under nitrogen anhydrous pyridine (5mL) was added. To this solution sulfur trioxide pyridine complex (34 mg,0.214 mmol) was added and let to stir for 5 hours at room temperature.The reaction was quenched with the addition of methanol (0.5 mL) andstirring for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture was concentrated underreduced pressure and redissolved in water and subjected to reversedphase (C18) HPLC purification using water-methanol gradient system toget 3 (36 mg, 32%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.81 (d, J=6.9 Hz, 2H),7.59-7.35 (m, 5H), 7.00 (d, J=9.0 Hz, 2H), 4.93 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 1H),4.32-4.10 (m, 3H), 4.03-3.90 (m, 2H), 3.83-3.60 (m, 3H), 3.44-3.33 (m,4H), 2.61 (q, J=7.0 Hz, 2H), 2.49-2.29 (m, 2H), 1.98 (s, 3H), 1.72-1.49(m, 6H), 1.48-1.22 (m, 9H), 0.98-0.81 (m, 3H). MS (ESI⁻) for [M−Na⁺]⁻;calculated: 763.3, found: 763.7.

Example 5 Synthesis of Representative MPS-VI Substrates and EnzymaticProducts

In this example, the synthesis of representative MPS-VI substrates andenzymatic product reagents is described. The general scheme for thesynthesis of MPS-VI substrates is shown in FIG. 3 .

MPS-VI Substrate (Hexanamido).

The preparation of a representative MPS-VI substrate (hexanamido) isdescribed below and illustrated in FIG. 4 .

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-hydroxyphenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)hexanamido)pentyl)-benzamide(3)

A solution of N-(5-aminopentyl)benzamide (180 mg, 0.872 mmol) andN-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acrylamide (171 mg, 1.05 mmol) in i-propyl alcohol(7.8 mL) and water (0.87 mL) was heated to 65° C. under constantstirring for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and concentrated under reduced pressure and further underhigh vacuum. To this crude concentrate anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide(DMF) (3.0 mL) and triethylamine (220 mg, 2.17 mmol) were added anddissolved thoroughly. This solution was cooled to 0° C. and hexanoylchloride (234 mg, 1.74 mmol) was added dropwise and warmed to roomtemperature and stirred for 2 hours. The reaction was quenched with theaddition of saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and the reactionmixture was extracted with DCM/methanol (4:1). The organic layer wasfurther washed with water and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate. Theorganic layer was concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure andmethanol (3.0 mL) was added and re-dissolved. To this solution 5%aqueous sodium hydroxide (3.0 mL) was added dropwise and stirred at roomtemperature for 2 hours. The reaction was acidified, as indicated by pHpaper, with 1N HCl solution and extracted with DCM/methanol (4:1). Theorganic layer was concentrated under reduced pressure and the residuewas subjected to silica column chromatography and eluted with 5%methanol in DCM to yield 3 (151 mg, 37%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 8.47(s, 1H), 7.81 (d, J=7.7 Hz, 2H), 7.57-7.40 (m, 3H), 7.36-7.27 (m, 2H),6.78-6.67 (m, 2H), 3.69 (dt, J=18.7, 6.9 Hz, 2H), 3.46-3.33 (m, 4H),2.60 (q, J=7.0 Hz, 2H), 2.47-2.29 (m, 2H), 1.63 (ddd, J=11.6, 10.6, 5.7Hz, 6H), 1.48-1.22 (m, 6H), 0.89 (td, J=6.6, 2.6 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for[M+Na]⁺; calculated: 490.3, found: 490.6.

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)hexanamido)pentyl)benzamide(4)

To a solution of 3 (73 mg, 0.156 mmol) and(2R,3R,4R,5R)-5-acetamido-2-(acetoxymethyl)-6-chlorotetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4-diyldiacetate (114 mg, 0.312 mmol) in anhydrous DMF (0.7 mL) cesiumcarbonate (152 mg, 0.466 mmol) was added and left to stir for 6 hours atroom temperature. The reaction mixture was then extracted between waterand DCM and the organic layer was further washed with water, dried withanhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. Theresultant crude was purified by flash silica column chromatography using4% methanol in DCM as eluent to get the peracetylated intermediate. TheNMR spectroscopy indicated that the peracetylated intermediate hasco-eluted with the starting material 3. This mixture was used for thenext deacetylation step without further purification. To the solution ofthe above mixture in anhydrous methanol (5.0 mL), a 0.5 M solution ofsodium methoxide in methanol (200 μL) was added dropwise at 0° C. andleft to stir for 2 hours at room temperature. The reaction was quenchedwith the addition of formic acid (100 μL) and subjected tosemi-preparative reverse phase HPLC purification (gradientwater/methanol system) to get 4 (23 mg, 22%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ7.85-7.77 (m, 2H), 7.58-7.38 (m, 5H), 6.99 (dd, J=9.1, 2.6 Hz, 2H), 4.96(dd, J=8.4, 1.3 Hz, 1H), 4.17 (dd, J=10.7, 8.4 Hz, 1H), 3.90 (d, J=3.1Hz, 1H), 3.84-3.60 (m, 6H), 3.38 (dd, J=11.1, 6.8 Hz, 4H), 2.61 (q,J=7.1 Hz, 2H), 2.47-2.29 (m, 2H), 1.98 (s, 3H), 1.74-1.50 (m, 6H),1.47-1.21 (m, 6H), 0.89 (td, J=6.6, 3.3 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+Na]⁺;calculated: 693.3, found: 693.4.

Sodium(2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-6-(4-(3-(N-(5-benzamidopentyl)-hexanamido)propanamido)phenoxy)-4-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-ylSulfate (5)

To a cooled (0° C.) solution of 4 (22 mg, 32.8 μmol) in anhydrouspyridine (0.5 mL), benzoyl chloride (7.7 μL, 65.6 μmol) was added. After1 hour at room temperature the solution was cooled back to 0° C. andanother portion of benzoyl chloride (7.7 μL, 65.6 μmol) was added leftto stir for 2 hours at room temperature. The reaction was quenched withaddition of methanol (200 μL) and stirred for another 30 mins. Theresultant mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure and purifiedby flash silica column chromatography using 4% methanol in DCM as theeluent. The desired fractions were concentrated under reduced pressureand further under high vacuum. The resultant residue was dissolved inanhydrous pyridine (1.0 mL) and sulfur trioxide pyridine complex (17 mg,109 μmol) was added to it at room temperature. The resulting mixture washeated to 45° C. for 3 hours followed by the addition of methanol (0.5mL) and stirred for further 10 mins. The reaction mixture wasconcentrated under reduced pressure and further under high vacuum. Theresulting residue was re-dissolved in anhydrous methanol (6.0 mL) andcooled to 0° C. To this cooled solution 0.5 M solution of sodiummethoxide in methanol (0.8 mL) was added dropwise and let stir for 16hours. The reaction was quenched by the addition of 1 M aqueous solutionof sodium phosphate monobasic (1.0 mL) and subjected to semi-preparativereverse phase HPLC purification (gradient water/methanol system) toyield 5 (12 mg, 47%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.85-7.76 (m, 2H),7.58-7.38 (m, 5H), 7.05-6.92 (m, 2H), 5.00 (dd, J=8.4, 1.2 Hz, 1H), 4.75(d, J=3.1 Hz, 1H), 4.15 (dd, J=10.9, 8.4 Hz, 1H), 3.95-3.60 (m, 6H),3.38 (dt, J=11.2, 5.6 Hz, 4H), 2.62 (dd, J=15.9, 6.9 Hz, 2H), 2.47-2.29(m, 2H), 1.97 (s, 3H), 1.76-1.51 (m, 6H), 1.47-1.21 (m, 6H), 0.89 (td,J=6.6, 3.4 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁻) for [M−Na⁺]⁻; calculated: 749.3, found:749.5.

MPS-VI Substrate (Pentanamido).

The preparation of a representative MPS-VI substrate (pentanamido) isdescribed below and illustrated in FIG. 4 .

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-hydroxyphenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)-benzamide

A solution of N-(5-aminopentyl)benzamide (207 mg, 1.00 mmol) andN-(4-hydroxyphenyl)acrylamide (197 mg, 1.21 mmol) in i-propyl alcohol(9.0 mL) and water (1.0 mL) was heated to 65° C. under constant stirringfor 24 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature andconcentrated under reduced pressure and further under high vacuum. Tothis crude concentrate anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) (3.0 mL)and triethylamine (253 mg, 2.50 mmol) were added and dissolvedthoroughly. This solution was cooled to 0° C. and valeryl chloride (241mg, 2.00 mmol) was added dropwise and warmed to room temperature andstirred for 2 hours. The reaction was quenched with the addition ofsaturated sodium bicarbonate solution and the reaction mixture wasextracted with DCM/methanol (4:1). The organic layer was further washedwith water and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate. The organic layerwas concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure and methanol (3.0 mL)was added and re-dissolved. To this solution 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide(3.0 mL) was added dropwise and stirred at room temperature for 2 hours.The reaction was acidified, as indicated by pH paper, with 1N HClsolution and extracted with DCM/methanol (4:1). The organic layer wasconcentrated under reduced pressure and the residue was subjected tosilica column chromatography and eluted with 5% methanol in DCM to yieldthe title compound (203 mg, 45%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 8.45 (s, 1H),7.83-7.78 (m, 2H), 7.56-7.40 (m, 3H), 7.34-7.26 (m, 2H), 6.76-6.68 (m,2H), 3.69 (dt, J=19.4, 6.9 Hz, 2H), 3.44-3.37 (m, 4H), 2.60 (dd, J=14.7,7.4 Hz, 2H), 2.47-2.30 (m, 2H), 1.75-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.47-1.26 (m, 4H),0.91 (t, J=7.3 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+Na]⁺; calculated: 476.3, found:476.5.

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)benzamide

To a solution ofN-(5-(N-(3-((4-hydroxyphenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)-benzamide(148 mg, 0.326 mmol) and(2R,3R,4R,5R)-5-acetamido-2-(acetoxymethyl)-6-chlorotetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4-diyldiacetate (239 mg, 0.653 mmol) in DCM (0.4 mL) tetrabutylammoniumhydrogen sulfate (110 mg, 0.324 mmol) and 2 M aqueous sodium hydroxidesolution (0.4 mL) was added and left to stir for 3 hours at roomtemperature. To the reaction mixture another portion of the diacetate(90 mg, 0.246 mmol) was added and stirred for another 13 hours. Thereaction mixture was then extracted between water and DCM and theorganic layer was further washed with water, dried with anhydrous sodiumsulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The resultant crude waspurified by flash silica column chromatography using 4% methanol in DCMas eluent to get the peracetylated intermediate. The NMR spectroscopyindicated that the peracetylated intermediate has co-eluted with thestarting material. This mixture was used for the next deacetylation stepwithout further purification. To the solution of the above mixture inanhydrous methanol (5.0 mL), a 0.5 M solution of sodium methoxide inmethanol (200 μL) was added dropwise at 0° C. and left to stir for 2hours at room temperature. The reaction was quenched with the additionof formic acid (100 μL) and subjected to semi-preparative reverse phaseHPLC purification (gradient water/methanol system) to provide the titlecompound (29 mg, 14%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.83 (d, J=7.1 Hz, 2H),7.59-7.35 (m, 5H), 7.06-6.90 (m, 2H), 4.99 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 1H), 4.27-4.11(m, 1H), 3.96-3.55 (m, 7H), 3.46-3.35 (m, 4H), 2.71-2.51 (m, 2H),2.49-2.27 (m, 2H), 2.01 (s, 3H), 1.76-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.37 (dd, J=14.6,7.2 Hz, 4H), 0.93 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+Na]⁺; calculated:679.3, found: 679.7.

Sodium(2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-6(4(3(N(5-benzamidopentyl)-pentanamido)propanamido)phenoxy)-4-hydroxy-2-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3-ylSulfate

To a cooled (0° C.) solution ofN-(5-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)-tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)benzamide(25 mg, 38.1 μmol) in anhydrous pyridine (0.5 mL), benzoyl chloride (4.9μL, 41.9 μmol) was added. After 1 hour at room temperature the solutionwas cooled back to 0° C. and another portion of benzoyl chloride (9.4μL, 80.4 μmol) was added and left to stir for 2 hours at roomtemperature. The reaction was extracted between 1 M HCl solution andchloroform. The chloroform layer was further washed with a mixture ofwater and brine solution (1:1). The organic layer was concentrated andpurified by flash silica column chromatography using 5% methanol in DCMas the eluent. The desired fractions were concentrated under reducedpressure and further under high vacuum. The resultant residue wasdissolved in anhydrous pyridine and sulfur trioxide pyridine complex(8.3 mg, 52.1 μmol) was added to it at room temperature. The resultingmixture was heated to 45° C. for 3 hours followed by the addition ofmethanol (0.5 mL) and stirred for further 10 mins. The reaction mixturewas concentrated under reduced pressure and further under high vacuum.The resulting residue was re-dissolved in anhydrous methanol (5.0 mL)and cooled to 0° C. To this cooled solution 0.5 M solution of sodiummethoxide in methanol (0.5 mL) was added dropwise and let stir for 16hours. The reaction was quenched by the addition of 1 M aqueous solutionof sodium phosphate monobasic (1.0 mL) and subjected to semi-preparativereverse phase HPLC purification (gradient water/methanol system) toyield the title compound (5.8 mg, 20%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.80(dd, J=7.0, 1.2 Hz, 2H), 7.58-7.38 (m, 5H), 7.03-6.94 (m, 2H), 5.01 (dd,J=8.4, 1.1 Hz, 1H), 4.75 (d, J=3.1 Hz, 1H), 4.13 (dd, J=10.9, 8.4 Hz,1H), 3.95-3.61 (m, 6H), 3.45-3.34 (m, 4H), 2.61 (dd, J=16.1, 7.0 Hz,2H), 2.47-2.31 (m, 2H), 1.97 (s, 3H), 1.73-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.43-1.23 (m,5H), 0.91 (td, J=7.3, 2.2 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁻) for [M−Na⁺]⁻; calculated:735.3, found: 735.4.

MPS-VI Product.

The preparation of a representative MPS-VI product is described belowand illustrated in FIG. 5 .

(2R,3R,4R,5R,6S)-5-acetamido-2-(acetoxymethyl)-6-(4-nitrophenoxy)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-3,4-diylDiacetate (1)

Pyridine (60 mL) was added to nitrogen back flushed flask containingD-galactosamine hydrochloride (5 g, 23.2 mmol) and the resultant slurrywas cooled on an ice bath. To the cooled mixture acetic anhydride (25 g,245 mmol) was added dropwise and allowed to warm to room temperaturefollowed by stirring at this temperature for 16 hours. The reactionmixture was quenched with the addition of methanol (15 mL) and let stirfor 20 minutes. The resultant mixture was concentrated under reducedpressure and the residue was dissolved in 20% methanol in chloroformwith the aid of warming the mixture. This solution was washed with 1NHCl solution followed by brine solution. The resultant organic layer wasdried using anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated under reducedpressure. The residue was taken in nitrogen back flushed flask equippedwith a dropping funnel. Anhydrous dichloromethane (100 mL) was added tothis residue and the resultant slurry was cooled on an ice bath. In thedropping funnel titanium chloride (6.5 g, 42.1 mmol) was dissolved inanhydrous dichloromethane (40 mL) and the resulting solution was addeddropwise to the cooled solution. The reaction mixture was warmed to 50°C. in an oil bath and left to stir at this temperature for 48 hours. Thereaction mixture was cooled back on an ice bath and saturated sodiumbicarbonate solution was added dropwise with vigorous shaking. Theresultant mixture was extracted between dichloromethane and saturatedsodium bicarbonate solution. The organic layer was dried using anhydroussodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The resultantresidue was dissolved in acetone (60 mL) and added slowly to a solutionof 4-nitrophenol (16.1 g, 116 mmol) in acetone (130 mL) and 4N KOHaqueous solution (23.2 mL). The reaction was left to stir at roomtemperature for 48 hours and concentrated under reduced pressure to lessthan 20 mL. This solution was extracted between 1N NaOH and chloroform.The organic layer was dried using anhydrous sodium sulfate andconcentrated under reduced pressure. The crude product thus obtained waspurified by silica flash chromatography using 3% methanol indichloromethane as the elution mixture. The fractions with the desiredcompound, as determined by TLC, were combined and concentrated underreduced pressure to get 1 (3.29 g, 30%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl₃) δ 8.20(d, J=9.1 Hz, 2H), 7.09 (d, J=9.1 Hz, 2H), 5.61 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 1H),5.56-5.39 (m, 3H), 4.32-4.07 (m, 4H), 2.18 (s, 3H), 2.07 (s, 3H), 2.04(s, 3H), 1.97 (s, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+Na]⁺; calculated: 491.1, found:491.2.

N-(5-(N-(3-((4-(((2S,3R,4R,5R,6R)-3-acetamido-4,5-dihydroxy-6-(hydroxymethyl)tetrahydro-2H-pyran-2-yl)oxy)phenyl)amino)-3-oxopropyl)pentanamido)pentyl)benzamide(2)

To a solution of 1 (3.5 g, 7.47 mmol) in anhydrous methanol (90 mL),cooled on an ice bath, 0.5 M sodium methoxide solution in methanol (3mL, 1.50 mmol) was added dropwise and allowed to warm to roomtemperature. After 2 hours formic acid (0.1 mL) was added to thereaction mixture and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. Tothe resulting residue methanol (135 mL), water (15 mL) and 10% palladiumon activated carbon (125 mg) was added and let to stir under a hydrogenatmosphere at room temperature for 16 hours. Water was added dropwise tothe reaction mixture till the entire white residue was completelydissolved. The reaction mixture was filtered and the filtrate was cooledon an ice bath. To it pyridine (2 mL) and followed by the dropwiseaddition of a solution of acryloyl chloride (2.1 g, 23.2 mmol) indichloromethane (50 mL). The reaction was let to stir on the ice bathfor 30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continued for 2hours. Sodium carbonate powder (3.0 g) was added to the reaction mix andlet to stir for 15 minutes and filtered. The filtrate was concentratedunder reduced pressure and further dried under high vacuum. The residuewas dissolved in 2-propanol (50 mL) and water (6.6 mL) mixture and to itN-(5-aminopentyl)benzamide (2.0 g, 9.69 mmol) was added and let to stirfor 40 hours at 65° C. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and methanol (25 mL) was added to it. Upon cooling thismixture on an ice bath triethylamine (2.5 mL) was added followed by thedropwise addition of a solution of pentanoyl chloride (2.7 g, 22.4 mmol)in dichloromethane (50 mL). The reaction was left to stir on the icebath for 30 minutes and then warmed to room temperature and continuedfor 16 hours. The reaction mixture was concentrated under reducedpressure and subjected to purification by silica flash chromatographyusing 15% methanol in dichloromethane as the elution mixture to yield 2(2.96 g, 60%). ¹H NMR (300 MHz, MeOD) δ 7.84 (d, J=7.1 Hz, 2H),7.59-7.35 (m, 5H), 7.09-6.91 (m, 2H), 5.00 (d, J=8.4 Hz, 1H), 4.28-4.09(m, 1H), 3.97-3.55 (m, 7H), 3.46-3.24 (m, 4H), 2.72-2.51 (m, 2H),2.49-2.28 (d, J=7.3 Hz, 2H), 2.02 (s, 3H), 1.78-1.49 (m, 6H), 1.49-1.22(m, 4H), 0.94 (t, J=7.1 Hz, 3H). MS (ESI⁺) for [M+H]⁺; calculated:657.3, found: 657.5.

Example 6 Representative Assay Using MPS-VI Reagents

In this example, a representative assay using MPS-VI reagents of theinvention is described. The results for these reagents is compared toother MPS-VI reagents.

The original MSP-VI reaction is shown below (Duffey, T. A., Sadilek, M.,Scott, C. R., Turecek, F., Gelb, M. H. (2010) “Tandem mass spectrometryfor the direct assay of lysosomal enzymes in dried blood spots:Application to screening newborns for Mucopolysaccharidosis VI(Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome)”, Anal. Chem., 82:9587-9591.). Note that theS, P and IS have the BOC group and that the P and IS are not chemicallyidentical (the P has 6 CH2 groups in the linker whereas the IS has 5).

The alternative MPS-VI reaction is shown below:

Note the different aglycone that has an N-pentanoyl group, no BOCcarbamate group. Note also that the internal standard is chemicallyidentical to the product but has 5 deuteriums in the benzoyl group.

The original and alternative MPS-VI substrates were compared inside-by-side enzyme assays as follows: 1 mM substrate, 10 uM internalstandard in 30 uL of buffer (100 mM ammonium formate, pH 4.0, 7.5 mMbarium(II) acetate, 5.0 mM cerium(III) acetate). A 3 mm punch of a driedblood spot was added, and the mixtures were incubated with shaking for16 hours at 37 deg C. The reactions were quenched by addition of anaqueous suspension (1:1) of DEAE cellulose (Whatmann DE52) (100 uL),followed by addition of 400 uL of ethyl acetate. The mixture was mixedby up and down pipetting a few times and then centrifuged (10 min at3000 rpm) to separate the liquid layers and pellet the DE52. A 300 uLportion of the upper ethyl acetate layer was transferred to a new well,and solvent was removed by evaporation with a stream of oil-free air.The residue was taken up in 100 uL of methanol/5 mM aqueous ammoniumformate (80/20, v/v) and infused into the tandem mass spectrometer. Thebarium and cerium salts are present to precipitate free sulfate andphosphate present in the dried blood spot since these anions causeproduction inhibition of the MPS-VI enzyme. The DE52 is added to trapremaining substrate so only product and internal standard (which arecharge neutral) are extracted into ethyl acetate. A blank assay is alsocarried out in which a blood-free 3 mm punch of filter paper issubstituted for the dried blood spot. The blank is incubated andprocessed as above.

TABLE 5 Comparative MPS-VI Assay Results. Enzymatic MSMS responseActivity¹ Coeff. of of IS and P³ blood-no (umole/hr/ Variation (ioncounts/ blood assay Substrate L blood) on activity² pmole) ratio⁴Original 1.25 7.36 29.7 4.9 MPS-VI Alternative 1.5 3.2 290 77.9 MPS-VI¹Enzymatic activity is expressed as umoles of product formed per hourper liter of blood. ²Coefficient of Variation (CV) is based on 6 runs ofthe assay each carried out with a different punch from the same driedblood spot. ³MSMS response is the amount of ion counts measured in thetandem mass spectrometry channel per pmole of analyte. ⁴Blood-no bloodassay ratio is the enzymatic activity measured in an assay with a driedblood spot punch to that measured with a blood-free punch.

It can be seen from the above table that both MPS-VI substrates displaysimilar activity on the MPS-VI enzyme (umoles product produced per hrper liter of blood) but that the alternative substrate gives rise to aproduct that is about 10-fold more sensitive in MSMS detection (ioncounts detected per pmole of analyte). The improvement in blood-no bloodassay response is probably due to a lower amount of product as acontaminant in the alternative MPS-VI substrate because the newsubstrate is easier to produce in product-free form.

Example 7 Representative Sulfatase Assay for MPS-II

In this example, a representative assay of the invention (assay foriduronic acid 2-sulfatase, the enzyme that is deficient in HunterSyndrome (MPS-II)) is described.

The first step in the reaction is as described above (see also WO2009/026252 (PCT/US2008/073516), WO 2010/081163 (PCT/US2010/020801), WO2012/027612 (PCT/US2011/049224), and WO 2013/070953(PCT/US2012/064205)).

In the assay, a second enzyme, alpha-L-iduronidase (a glycohydrolase) isadded to the assay cocktail, which converts Initial MPS-II Product toFinal MPS-II Product by removing the iduronic acid residue leaving theaglycone. The iduronidase can be present in the assay cocktail that isincubated with the dried blood spot, or it can be added after the firstincubation with the dried blood spot followed by a second incubationperiod. The amount of iduronidase added is sufficient to convert allInitial MPS-II Product to Final MPS-II Product. The assay cocktail alsocontains Initial MPS-II Internal Standard (same as Initial MPS-IIProduct but, for example, with 5 deuteriums in the benzoyl group), whichis converted by iduronidase to Final MPS-II Internal Standard. BothFinal MPS-II Product and Final MPS-II Internal Standard are detected bytandem mass spectrometry, which enables the amount of Final MPS-IIProduct to be quantified. Typically the reaction mixture is extractedwith an organic solvent to cause Final MPS-II Internal Standard andFinal MPS-II Product to partition into the organic solvent phase in arelatively salt-free form. The organic solvent is removed byevaporation, the residue is dissolved in solvent and the solvent isinjected into the tandem mass spectrometer. The analytes are detected bymultiple reaction monitoring.

Using an assay that does not include the second enzyme (i.e., theglycohydrolase) and using a 3 mm punch of a dried blood spot from anewborn screening card, 10,000-30,000 ion counts are typically observedfor Initial MPS-II Product after an incubation time of 12-18 hours.Using the assay of the invention with the iduronidase, 1 million-5million ion counts are typically observed for Final MPS-II Product. Thusthe assay sensitivity has been improved by about 100-fold. A secondadvantage of the method of the invention is that in the previous assay,remaining MPS-II Substrate that enters the mass spectrometerelectrospray ionization source undergoes some degree of desulfation dueto heating in the source. This increases the assay background by givingrise to product signal that is independent of the action of iduronicacid 2-sulfatase. With the assay of the invention, this desulfation isof no concern because the product being detected is the aglycone (FinalMPS-II Product).

The iduronidase used is the human enzyme that was obtained byoverexpression in mammalian cells. Any iduronidase can be used as longas it does not act on MPS-II substrate (i.e., cleaves the glycosidiclinkage only after the sulfate has been removed from the iduronic acid).

Example 8 Representative Sulfatase Assay for MPS-VI

A suitable second enzyme for use in a representative assay for MPS-VI isbacterial N-acetylgalactosaminidase and is used to releaseN-acetyl-galactosamine from its aglycone after the MPS-VI enzyme removesthe sulfate from the 4-position of the sugar. This improves assaysensitivity by about 20-fold. Other suitable enzymes include bacterialN-acetyl hexosaminidases.

Example 9 Representative Sulfatase Assay for MPS-IVA

A suitable second enzyme for use in a representative assay for MPS-IVAis beta-galactosidase from Aspergillus species and is used to releasegalactose from its aglycone after the MPS-IVA enzyme removes the sulfatefrom the 6-position of the sugar. This improves assay sensitivity byabout 20-fold. The Aspergillus enzyme is preferred over, for example,the E. coli enzyme, because it retains high activity at pH 4-5, the pHof the MPS-IVA assay. Alternatively, one can use the MPS-IVA substratewith N-acetyl-galactosamine-6-sulfate, and the initial MPS-IV product isacted on by the same enzyme used in the MPS-VI assay (see above) toprovide the aglycone.

Example 10 Representative Sulfatase Assay for MPS-IIIA

A suitable second enzyme for use in a representative assay for MPS-IIIAis yeast alpha-glucosidase from Bakers yeast, which is used to releaseglucosamine from its aglycone after the MPS-IIIA enzyme removes thesulfate from the amino group of glucosamine-N-sulfate. Alternatively,acetyl-CoA:glucosamine N-acetyltransferase can be used to acetylate thefree amino group after the MPS-IIIA enzyme removes the sulfate. Bothmammalian and bacterial acetyltransferases can be used.

Example 11 Representative Assay for MPS-IVA

In this example, a representative assay for MPS-IVA is described usingbacterial enzyme, beta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (beta-NGA), whichcleaves beta glycosides to N-acetyl-galactosamine when it is notsulfated on the 6-position, and an inhibitor of human hexosaminidase A,(Z)—O-(2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucopyranosylidene)-aminoN-phenylcarbamate (Z-PUG-NAc), to block human hexosamidinase A action onthe GALNS substrate.

The GALNS substrate used in the assay has the following structure:

The GALNS internal standard used in the assay has the followingstructure:

Experiment 1

A 3 mm punch of a dried blood spot from a random newborn is incubatedwith 0.03 mL of assay cocktail consisting of 1 mM GALNS substrate in 50mM ammonium formate pH 4.0 containing 7.5 mM barium acetate, 5.0 mMcerium acetate, 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc, and 0.01 mg of bacterialbeta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase. The mixture also contains 0.005 mMinternal standard. After 16 hrs at 37° C. with shaking, the mixture isquenched with 0.12 mL of acetonitrile and the sample plate iscentrifuged to pellet the precipitate. Supernatant (0.12 mL) istransferred to a new plate, and 0.12 mL of water is added. The plate isplaced on the autosampler of the UHPLC-MS/MS instrument (Waters Xevo TQMS/MS with a Waters Acquity UHPLC system). A portion of the sample (0.01mL) is injected, and the GALNS product (substrate minus sulfate), theinternal standard, and the aglycones derived from the GALNS product andinternal standard are quantified by multiple reaction monitoring(MS/MS). Note the internal standard added, like the GALNS product, isconverted to its aglycone by the addition of bacterialbeta-N-acetylgalactosaminidase. Table 1 above shows the MS/MS ion peakareas for each analyte.

Experiment 1 shows the results of the complete assay with a bloodcontaining punch, GALNS substrate, internal standard, 1 mM Z-PUG-NAc,and 0.01 mg beta-NGA in assay buffer. The aglycone signal of 411,000 ionpeak area is much larger than the signal for the initially formed GALNSproduct showing that beta-NGA converts most of the product to theaglycone. Experiment 1 also shows that most of the internal standard isconverted to the aglycone. The amount of aglycone and internal standardaglycone is used to determine the amount of GALNS enzymatic activity.

Experiment 2

Experiment 2 is the same as Experiment 1 but uses a punch of filterpaper (no blood). Most of the internal standard is converted to theaglycone showing that the added beta-NGA is working. The amount ofaglycone is only 42,000, about 10-fold lower than that seen in thepresence of blood. This high blood-to-no-blood ratio shows that theGALNS assay is working. Furthermore when a dried blood spot from aconfirmed Morquio A patient is used, the amount of aglycone is similarto that seen in the absence of blood (45,000) showing that the assay isworking to detect only the GALNS present in blood from a non-affectedindividual.

Experiment 3

Experiment 3 shows a complete assay but with no beta-NGA. As expected,most of the internal standard is not converted to its aglycone, becauseis no beta-NAG and any hexosaminidase A coming from the blood is blockedby Z-PUG-NAc. The amount of GALNS product is 121,000 and the amount ofaglycone is 42,900.

Experiment 4

Experiment 4 is the same as Experiment 3, but without blood. Experiment4 shows only 753 for GALNS product. Thus, most of the 121,000 productcounts in Experiment 3 is due to GALNS. The product counts in Experiment3 cannot be due to hexosaminidase A, because only beta-NGA generates theaglycone. The amount of aglycone in Experiments 3 and 4 are similar, andthis represents aglycone present in the GALNS substrate as acontaminant.

Experiments 1-4 also show the advantage of converting GALNS product toits aglycone; with blood and beta-NGA the aglycone signal is 411,000,and this is compared to only 121,000 for GALNS product when it was notconverted to its aglycone by beta-NGA. Thus, a 4-fold increase in GALNSassay sensitivity is gained.

Experiment 5

Experiment 5 shows the complete assay, but lacks the hexosaminidase Ainhibitor Z-PUG-NAc. Most of the internal standard is converted to itsaglycone as expected because beta-NGA is present. The signal foraglycone is 1,350,000, much larger than in Experiment 1. This shows thathexosaminidase A, if left non-inhibited, generates a substantial amountof aglycone from the GALNS substrate.

Experiment 6

Experiment 6 contains blood but no beta-NGA and no Z-PUG-NAc. The amountof GALNS product is 110,000 instead of 25,100 as in Experiment 5, whichis due to the action of GALNS on the GALNS substrate. Because beta-NGAis absent, only a small amount of GALNS product is converted toaglycone, but the amount of aglycone remains high at 1,110,000. This isbecause of the action of hexosaminidase A in the blood on GALNSsubstrate in the absence of Z-PUG-NAc.

Experiments 7 and 8

Experiments 7 and 8 are with filter paper (no blood). Experiment 7includes beta-NGA, whereas Experiment 8 does not include beta-NGA. Asexpected, most of the internal standard is converted to aglycone inExperiment 7, but not in Experiment 8. Experiment 8 shows that the GALNSsubstrate contains small amounts of product (820) and aglycone (14,500)as contaminants. These can be removed by a further round of purificationof GALNS substrate.

The results in Table 1 clearly show that the action of non-inhibitedhuman hexosaminidase A endogenously present in dried blood spotsgenerates excessive much aglycone from the GALNS substrate to lead to auseful GALNS assay in the absence of a hexosaminidase A inhibitor. Thedata also clearly show that beta-NGA has the desired properties: itconverts most of the GALNS product and the internal standard to theiraglycones even in the presence of sufficient hexosaminidase A inhibitorZ-PUG-NAc to fully block hexosaminidase A.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated anddescribed, it will be appreciated that various changes can be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:
 1. A compound having acarbohydrate moiety and an aglycone moiety and having the formula:

or a salt thereof, wherein L₂ is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atomsin which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatomselected from N, O, and S, and/or one or more of carbon atoms may besubstituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen; L₃ is a linkercomprising 1-20 carbon atoms in which one or more carbon atoms may bereplaced with a heteroatom selected from N, O, or S, and/or one or moreof carbon atoms may be substituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen;L₄ is optional and when present is a linker comprising 1-20 carbon atomsin which one or more carbon atoms may be replaced with a heteroatomselected from N, O, or S), and/or one or more of carbon atoms may besubstituted with a C₁-C₆ alkyl group or halogen; R₁ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkylgroup; R₂ at each occurrence is independently selected from a C₁-C₁₀alkyl group, a C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy group, halogen, nitro, —C(═O)NHR, or—C(═O)OR, where R is C₁-C₈ alkyl group; R₃ is a C₁-C₁₀ alkyl group or asubstituted or unsubstituted C₆-C₁₀ aryl group; n is 0, 1,2, 3, or 4;and S is


2. The compound of claim 1, wherein L₂ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, where n is 1-6.3. The compound of claim 1, wherein L₃ is —(CH₂)_(m)—, where m is 1-12.4. The compound of claim 1, wherein L₄ is —(CH₂)_(n)—, where n is 1-6.5. The compound of claim 1, wherein L₄ is absent.
 6. The compound ofclaim 1, wherein R₁ is C₁-C₅ alkyl.
 7. The compound of claim 1, whereinR₂ is C₁-C₈ alkyl.
 8. The compound of claim 1, wherein R₃ is C₁-C₆alkyl.
 9. The compound of claim 1, wherein R₃ is phenyl.
 10. Thecompound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 11. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 12. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 13. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 14. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 15. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 16. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 17. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 18. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 19. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 20. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 21. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 22. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.
 23. The compound of claim 1 having the formula:

or a salt thereof.